Destruction of Gov't Property
by Gib
Summary: A hastily planned mission near a remote village... What could possibly go wrong? - A G.I. Jack and Mac fic.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This story picks up a couple of months after _Government Issue,_ but can be read as a stand alone. BTW, I pretty much threw the military handbook out the widow... again. Apologies to any veterans, this is just for fun.

As always, a huge thanks to Dlwells51 for taking the time to give this a quick once over while she's currently working on her own story _Force of Nature_ in the MacGyver verse. It's her first and I'm lovin it. That being said, I didn't give her a chance to really sink her teeth into this one so just pretend I know how to use proper punctuation. ;-)

 **Trigger Warning** : Brief mention of IED injuries, nothing graphic but thought I'd throw that out there.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything having to do with the tv show, or the characters, yadda yadda.

Glossary:

TOC: Tactical Operation Center

UXO: Unexploded Ordinance

 **AFGHANISTAN:**

Jack leaned back in his chair, calling over his shoulder toward the grill Coop was manning, while Box 'supervised'. "A sword!"

Mac cocked his head as he sat next to Jack in one of the lawn chairs they had recently acquired.

Coop looked up from the grill, knife in hand. "A what?"

Jack looked thoughtful and scratched his beard, "A sword, I've never fought anyone with a sword, you know, those thin ones the French use." He twirled his hand, mimicking a parry.

"You mean a foil? For fencing?" Mac asked, trying not to laugh at the thought of Jack wearing a fencing uniform and fighting within the rules with finesse.

"No way dude," Jack said, face scrunched in disgust, "those things aren't even sharp and they bend, _not_ the best weapon." He paused for a second, cocking his head to the side, lost in thought. "Although, I have used worse I suppose." He sat back, relaxed, "No, I'm talking about the swords the Musketeers used, you know, the ones with all the fancy stuff near the handle?"

Mac's brow furrowed. "You mean a rapier? They're actually from Spain I think."

Jack waved a dismissive hand, "Whatever dude, Oliver Reed used one and he was playing a French guy."

Boxer snorted, "I don't think Alexandre Dumas had you _or_ Oliver Reed in mind when he wrote the books Wyatt." He gave Coop a friendly shove, pointing at the grill before intending to head toward the circle of lawn chairs to join the conversation. "Don't burn my steak son."

Coop shook his head, "Frickin Texans, just because you live with cows, doesn't mean you cornered the market on barbecue." Coop pulled the Oakland Raiders ball cap covering his longer than military regulation sandy blond hair off and tried to swat Boxer. "Now, get along little doggie."

Box high stepped, avoiding the friendly swing and plopped down in the chair across from Jack, "Coop, I hate to break it to ya but what you're doin there ain't barbecue, it's called grillin."

Coop scoffed and waved a hand dismissively. "Whatever dude."

Box smiled, turning his attention to Jack, pointing at him with a mischievous glint in his eye. "Guess old man Dover coming after you with a pitchfork is the closest thing to a rapier or a foil you've seen, but that doesn't count. Too many points on it, so yeah, I'll give it to ya."

Jack grinned and winked at Mac who's eyebrows had raised as he looked between the two friends waiting for the story behind the pitchfork. "A pitchfork Jack? What did you do?"

Jack leaned forward, shuffling his feet, his hands becoming animated. "You had to know old Man Dover Mac, this old boy had the prettiest little filly you ever did see, all the right curves in all the right places if you know what I mean." He grinned, licking his lips before wiggling in his seat, settling in to tell the story. "So, one night me an ole Box here went and..."

"Steaks are ready!" Coop yelled, from the grill.

Jack's head snapped up as he jumped out of his chair, practically knocking it over, forgetting the story as he rushed toward the grill, leaving a stunned Mac sitting open mouthed.

Seeming to realize Jack wasn't going to continue the story, Mac jumped out of his own chair and took two strides to catch up with Jack, Boxer not far behind. "Went and what?"

Jack turned his head toward Mac as he held his plate out toward Coop. "Huh?"

Mac sighed in frustration as Jack looked away distractedly, obviously more interested in the steak Coop had just deposited on his plate. "Old man Dover... you and Box?" He asked eagerly as he held his own plate out. "Thanks Coop." he said distractedly, turning, wanting to catch up with Jack when Coop's large hand grabbed his sleeve.

The broad shouldered man smiled at Mac," he pointed the black tactical knife he'd been using to turn the steaks toward Mac's plate. "You better eat the whole thing and come back for seconds baby brother." He gave Mac a friendly shove toward the circle of lawn chairs. "Gotta get some meat on those bones kid!"

Mac regained his balance, miraculously keeping the steak on his plate as he moved toward his chair.

Truth be told, Coop was somewhat impressed at how well Mac had started to develop physically. Ever since he had become an honorary adopted member of Jack's unit, he had been working out with them, which was no easy task for sure.

The kid held his own when it came to running and calisthenics and was even becoming quite good at hand to hand, although he still couldn't beat any of them. For one, they didn't fight fair, and two... they didn't fight fair.

Coop chuckled as he turned and stabbed his own steak onto a plate, passing Mac in two long strides making his way to his own chair.

He sat down and looked expectantly around the circle of men, "Well? How is it?"

"Good job, just enough heat." Boxer answered, using his own knife to stab a hunk of meat.

Mac watched as the men attacked their steaks, complimenting Coop on his grilling skills, forgoing forks and opting to use their tactical knifes as the preferred eating utensil.

Mac wasn't sure the guys even had forks in their small corner of the forward operating base they called home.

Not wanting to be the odd man out but also having never been issued a tactical knife, Mac reached in his pocket and pulled out his Swiss Army knife, flipping open the blade, slightly embarrassed.

Jack nudged him with his knee and winked, before leaning over and pulling another knife from the sheath in his boot flipping it in the air, deftly catching it by the blade, he presented the handle to Mac. "Wanna use this one?" He nodded towards Mac's plate.

Mac eyed the offered weapon with a slight cringe. "Um, no thanks." He held his small knife up, "This works just fine." The thought of using a knife that could have been used for who knows what was _not_ something he was willing to do just yet.

Jack shrugged, flipped the knife around and put it back in his boot, stabbing the last of the steak and popping it in his mouth.

Boxer let out a small laugh, "Umbrella!"

Coop leaned back in his chair slightly irritated. "Dude, now why in the world would someone have a freaking umbrella in this god forsaken place?"

Mac's eyebrows rose as he shared a look with Jack. The older man gave a snort. "Box, an umbrella doesn't count man, has to be an actual weapon."

Coop pat Box on the back, "Nice try though dude."

It was a game they had started while waiting for Coop to cook the steaks they had procured along with the lawn chairs.

The rules were simple. Try to come up with a weapon they hadn't used or hadn't had to defend themselves against.

They had started by choosing common weaponry at first. After having exhausted most of those, they changed the rules to include common items that could be used in place of a firearm, cannon, aircraft or explosives. Mac had explained each one of his choices in such detail, the Delta operators had decided he shouldn't be allowed to participate.

"Kid can make a weapon out of a freaking tic tac man." Jack had complained after they had gone on for a while.

Mac had watched as the operators came together in a huddle, obviously discussing Mac's participation. When they broke the huddle, Jack announced that they had come to an agreement.

Mac found himself in the unenviable position of referee. They had claimed it was because he was the youngest of the group and had virtually no fighting experience, his options for weapons was a lot more than they had to choose from.

Mac had agreed, simply because he knew when it came to competitiveness, these guys took the proverbial cake. Truthfully, he wanted no part in being around a group of highly trained, highly motivated disgruntled sore loser, Delta operators. Especially if he were the reason they were disgruntled.

"Hey, an umbrella could be a weapon, pointy end you know." Boxer plead his case.

Jack flung his hand out lightly tapping Mac on the arm, "Whatcha think Mac, should we give Box umbrella as a weapon?"

Mac looked thoughtful for a moment and smiled mischievously. "Yeah, I'd give it to him, I can think of at least five different ways an umbrella could be used to make a weapon."

Jack gave an eye roll, "Of course you could."

Boxer's chest puffed out proudly, "See, told you man, Mac says it's good."

Coop unwilling to concede, popped a hunk of steak in his mouth and pointed his knife toward Mac, in a friendly albeit menacingly way, "Yeah well, other than things that go boom, what's Mac know about weapons anyway." He complained.

Jack snorted, "Dude, you were here earlier when we started this right? Remember the uh..." Jack snapped his fingers trying to recall the item. He leaned toward Mac and whispered conspiratorially, "What'd you call that thing, you know the science geek one?"

Mac played along with Jack's less than stealth attempt to get the answer and whispered, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Jack huffed and sat back, giving Mac an annoyed smirk, before looking back at Coop who was doing his best to look impatient.

Coop tried not to laugh at the way Mac purposefully left Jack hanging out to dry, which invariably ended up one of two ways. Jack making up something that made absolutely no sense, or Jack trying to outflank his opponent.

Jack leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees and pointed at Coop, "Doesn't matter, you know as well as I do, if I gave him a freakin roll of duct tape and a toothbrush, he'd probably kick your ass."

Coop's eyes crinkled, _flanking maneuver_ , he thought, and shifted his gaze to Mac expectantly. "Is that so?"

Mac looked nervously between the two men, trying to figure out how he'd become the topic of conversation, "Actually Jack, I'd need a few more things to..." He stopped mid sentence, the amused looks on Coop and Box's faces had turned serious as they looked past Jack.

Jack and Mac turned, looking over their shoulders to see Specialist Franklin from the tactical operations center jogging toward them.

"This can't be good," Coop said setting his plate down and standing up.

Jack stood up to face the newcomer as Franklin slid to a stop in front of him. "Specialist?"

Franklin surveyed the scene before him, recognizing he was interrupting the operator's down time. "I'm sorry sir, but the Major needs to see you in the TOC asap." He looked down at the ground and took a deep breath before looking back up. "The escort detail got hit by an IED, Major sent me to get you, wants to send you guys out with the quick reaction force." He looked at his watch, "Birds are inbound, you're wheels up in twenty."

Box and Coop were already moving toward the barracks, Box stopped next to Jack and laid a hand on his shoulder. "I'll get your gear squared away, and we'll meet you outside the TOC."

Jack nodded and turned toward Mac who was still standing near his chair. "Mac, get your gear, you're coming with, if our guys are involved, I want you to do the post blast."

Mac nodded and jogged toward the barracks as Jack and the Private left at a slow jog.

0-0-0

As part of Jack's squad, Mac had learned early on to have his gear ready to go at a moment's notice, so it didn't take much more to get ready than to change clothes, grab his vest and pack and wait for Box and Coop outside the barracks.

Coop was the first to exit, still adjusting one of the multitude of weapons he was carrying, followed by Boxer, who was doing much of the same while trying to balance Jack's gear with his own.

Boxer gave Mac a slight head nod. "We need to stop by the armory and pick up a few things, you need anything Mac?"

Mac fell in beside the two operators, keeping up with their quick march. By the looks of the two men, Mac started to tabulate a list of things he might need based upon the number of weapons each man was carrying. "Yeah, they said it was an IED and want me to do the post blast analysis but where there's one..." He shrugged, "I'll grab some det cord and a case of bricks." He said referring to the plastic explosives used to detonate unexploded IED's.

Coop's jaw clenched and unclenched, in rhythm with his long stride. "Expect the best..."

"Plan for the worst." Boxer finished.

0-0-0

After they'd stopped at the armory and arrived outside of the TOC, they didn't have to wait long before the door flew open and Jack ran down the steps. He skid to a stop when he spotted the trio. "They got hit."

Box held out Jack's vest and pack. Jack grabbed the vest and put it on over the black Iron Maiden t-shirt as he started walking toward the helipad. "We've got two squads of Rangers coming with, we'll be taking two birds to the site," he reached back toward Boxer and grabbed his pack, quickly adjusting the shoulder straps, threading the coiled ear piece under the strap and around his ear.

"What's left of the escort is taking sporadic small arms from a village about half a klick from the blast site." He reached into his thigh pocket and pulled out a stack of aerial photo's, handing them to Boxer and taking the thigh holster and pistol from Coop.

"Those photos are from a drone that was overhead, you can see the site." He slowed to snap the straps around his thigh. "The irrigation ditch to the south east is the most likely position of the small arms they've been taking but so far, they cant get a visual, canopy is too thick in the wash."

Coop handed Jack his rifle as he and Mac studied the photos over Boxer's shoulder. "Any word on Pete and Dunc?" Mac asked hesitantly.

Jack stopped at the edge of the helipad, he ducked under the sling of his rifle and shoved it to his back. "Pete's surgical critical, amputation," he scrubbed a hand down his face. "I don't know what or how bad," Jack cleared his throat and stood straight, shoulders square. "Dunc's surgical non-critical, two KIA and three more wounded." He finished almost factually.

If you didn't know him, you would have thought the news had no effect on the team leader, Mac knew different. He'd seen the clenching of the jaw, and the stiffness in his posture, but the dead give away that Jack was trying his best not to let his emotions take hold, was the moisture in his eyes, eyes that could hold buckets without shedding a tear it seemed.

Coop bent over, resting his hands on his knees, shaking his head, "God dammit! Pete just got word, Becky's pregnant, gonna have twins."

Coop's declaration wasn't a surprise to the other members of the group, when Pete had found out, he had shared it with as many people that would listen. Some of which had no choice, as the proud father to be had no problem invading a person's personal space, grabbing soldiers he came across regardless of rank and shoving the tiny ultrasound picture in their face excitedly yelling "Twins, man, I'm gonna have twins!" Before running off looking for the next reluctant witness.

Box grabbed Coop under the arm and gently forced him to stand up. "Get your shit together man, birds are coming in."

Coop's long arm came up, grabbing Boxer's shoulder, giving it a squeeze. "I'm good, just..." He looked sideways, pleadingly at Boxer, but the older man didn't have any words of comfort to offer, which was an unusual thing for the stocky Texan.

On missions, Jack was papa bear, Boxer on the other hand was more mama bear to the unit, offsetting Jack's tactics, strategies and no nonsense approach... most of the time.

Mac's arrival in the unit had thrown a monkey wrench in Jack's internal tactical manual, _"The kid is just something you couldn't account for."_ Jack had said once, while trying to explain his actions after a mission, that having the young EOD tech on the team made him a better leader. He had to think faster and outside the proverbial military box. Or at least more outside the box than he normally thought.

Box was famous for dolling out words of wisdom when needed, especially when it came to their hot tempered leader. Box wore many hats in the unit for sure, but right now, he was one hundred percent second in command, mission ready.

Mac wiped the moisture from his eyes as he looked at Jack.

Jack's face was unreadable, as he returned the look briefly before dropping his chin, emotions in check as he walked determinedly toward the incoming Rangers.

Coop had gathered himself and stood to his full 6'7" height, a white knuckled grip on his rifle. "We better be doing more than just providing security for a fucking post blast analysis man." He looked at Mac, the fire in his eyes softened, "Sorry Mac, didn't mean any offense, I know you gotta do it, I just hope we get some fucking payback s'all."

Mac held his hand up, "None taken Coop, I know how you feel."

Boxer pointed toward the group of Rangers and rested his hands on his rifle, as they watched as Jack shake hands with the Captain in charge. "That's Captain Marconi, good man."

The conversation between Marconi and Jack didn't last long as the Blackhawks came in and set down on the helipad. The two men shook hands again. Jack turned and twirled his hand over his head, signaling for Mac and his men to get on the bird, six Rangers hot on his heels.

Jack stood to the side of the crew compartment while the Rangers boarded, finally climbing in and settling in his customary spot, back against the bulkhead, foot dangling out the door as the helicopter lifted off.

0-0-0

Jack's demeanor hadn't changed in the five minutes they'd been in the air, he hadn't said a word since he'd told them about Pete and Duncan and Mac was concerned. Usually this was the part where Jack would be making plans, or joking with the helicopter crew or something other than staring out the door watching the terrain go by.

Mac looked across the crew compartment at Boxer questioningly and nodded his head toward Jack. Boxer leaned forward and lightly tapped Jack on the shoulder effectively breaking the trance he was in.

Jack looked around the crew compartment as if he just realized where he was. He straightened, cleared is throat and reached back over his head for the headset hanging there.

Coop, Box and Mac did the same, as did the Sergeant in charge of the squad of Rangers.

Jack swept his eyes around the inside of the helicopter making eye contact with each man as they waited for his brief.

He took a deep cleansing breath, "Alright, we're headed into a hot zone, last report was the remaining ground element has been taking sporadic small arms fire." He nodded at Boxer, "These pictures are about..." he checked his watch as Boxer passed the photo's around the cabin, "an hour old, so aside from the destroyed vehicles, our units may be in a different location when we get there which should be in the next twenty minutes."

The Sergeant studied the photo's, "What's the plan once we're on the ground, we providing security or evac?"

"The wounded have been evac'd, Marconi and his squad are going to provide security to the right of the blast site somewhere in this area here," he held the photo up toward the men, "We're pretty sure it's clear, seein as how the ground element already passed through the area before getting hit."

Jack flipped the photo around getting his bearings before presenting it to the men. "We'll be setting down somewhere in this area and doing pretty much the same, Delta will sweep the immediate area for any UXO before starting the post blast, while you Rangers set a perimeter."

Coop raised his hand, something Jack had told him he didn't have to do but it still hadn't sunk in. The corner of Jack's mouth turned up, "What's up Coop? And stop raising your hand dude."

Coop quickly dropped his hand and looked around the cabin, glaring at the other men, daring them to smile or snicker, _his_ guys were the only ones allowed to do that. "Coms boss?"

Jack pulled a small notebook out of his vest pocket, flipping to the first page. "We've got two tac channels if needed, Marconi's designator is Tiger one," Jack nodded at the Ranger Sergeant, "Sergeant Ellis and his squad here are Tiger two, our callsign for this one is Spartan."

"What kind of air support we have?" Boxer asked, taking his own notes.

"We'll have a pair of A10's that are already on station, designator is Blue 1 and Blue 2, from what I understand, they've already done a few gun runs, so don't count on them being there if they have to go back and re-arm."

The men all nodded in understanding, as the pilot announced over the coms that they were one minute out.

"Got a visual on the friendlies?" Jack asked the pilots, unable to see the blast site from the helicopter's approach.

"Affirm, Blue 1 reports they're still taking fire, we're settin down on the north side of the site, there's a berm that should provide some cover, Blue 1 and 2 are dry, but are going to stay on station, give us a few low passes hopefully keeping the bad guy's heads down until we can drop you boys off."

"Copy that, thanks for the lift." Jack removed the headset, unclipping the tether, he held his rifle at the ready as the ground got closer.

To be continued...

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this. I've got quite a bit of this written and wasn't planning on posting until it was complete but I had a bit of a scare yesterday after the app I use updated and everything I had written for this disappeared. After having a mini meltdown where I was ready to throw in the towel on this one and take the rest of the summer off from writing, I finally came to my senses and did a hard reset on my iPad. Luckily it recovered everything. I am now backing everything up to the cloud, even though I have no clue how that works, but I figured I'd start posting what I've got before the gremlins strike again. That and it will force me to finish it. ;-) I'll stop rambling now, feeling a bit wordy today. Chapter two will be up hopefully sometime tomorrow, work permitting. Thanks for reading.

-Gib-


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Than you all for your reviews, favorites and follows. Thanks as always to Dlwells51 for fixing my stuff. Any mistakes are mine because I usually change things right before I post and she hasn't seen it. So, there's that and I've been editing between calls and everyone's awesome FF updates I can't stay away from, so sorry if this one comes out kinda choppy.

Warnings: Guns n ammo. A brief description of an IED blast site.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything having to do with the show. I will own the DVD/Blue Ray if they ever freaking put it on the market!

Glossary:

Cas evac: Casualty Evacuation

MOS: Military Occupational Specialty code

 **IED Site Afghanistan**

As soon as their Blackhawk had touched down, Jack had confirmed the second helicopter that carried Marconi and his men had also touched down further down the road. As the Blackhawks lifted off, the rotor wash from the large helicopter created a virtual sand blaster as it left. Jack was instantly reminded that while it wasn't as hot as wearing the customary long sleeve shirt, wearing a short sleeve t-shirt under tactical gear was definitely not something he wanted to repeat anytime soon.

He did his best to try and shuffle behind Coop's bulk to use the man as a shield but there was no escaping the sand blaster. Thankfully, the pilots didn't waste any time and gained altitude fairly quickly.

After the helicopters had cleared, Jack started up the berm towards the disabled convoy of Humvee's. "Box, let the TOC know we're down, everybody spread out, Tiger two, you're on the left, we'll take the right. Once we get to the top, stay on this side of the berm. No one gets up on that road until I do. Clear? Then we'll figure out what we're dealing with."

"You got it boss." Box was already talking with the TOC, Jack overheard him asking about air support and checking in with Marconi and his men located further down on the other end of the convoy.

As soon as the two groups reached the top of the berm, Jack took in the scene.

The vehicles that were still intact had no where to go. The first of the damaged vehicles in front of the convoy was still smoldering and had ended up coming to rest diagonally across the road. "Pete and Dunc would have been in that one." he pointed out somberly.

Boxer let out a low whistle, "It's a wonder they're not dead."

Coop picked up a large piece of debris that was in front of him and threw it across the road, not caring one bit if it needed to be logged as evidence. "Fuckin IED's man."

Jack stared at the truck for a long minute, finally breaking the trance with his own internal pep talk, and continued to survey the scene. At the back of the convoy, the only thing visible was the ass end of a supply truck sticking up in the air. The front, or what was left of the front was nose first inside the crater.

The vehicles immediately in front of the supply truck and behind the lead Hummer were damaged but Jack couldn't tell if they were still operational.

Mac grabbed Jack by the sleeve, seeing the same thing. "Whatever they hit, it was big, there were at least two IED's and I'm guessing the one to the rear was a remote det."

Jack nodded his agreement with Mac's assessment then looked to his left and right, taking a deep breath and flexed his shoulders, "Alright, well let's get over there and see what's goin on, shall we." He pushed himself up and ran towards the vehicles, Mac followed, ducking as the buzz of a bullet whizzed over his head.

A small squad of soldiers had taken cover behind the least damaged vehicle and started returning fire apparently with little to no impact on the enemy.

Sgt. Ellis and the rest of his Tiger two element spread themselves out to the right and remained just at the edge of the berm. Jack silently nodded his approval of the Sargent's decision.

As he approached the small squad, he quickly noted the mechanical engineer insignias and spotted a Lieutenant ducking behind the front wheel.

Jack held two fingers out and motioned left, Box and Coop peeled off and took cover behind the vehicle next to the one the LT and his men were using as cover.

Crouching low, Jack duck walked up next to the Lieutenant. "Hey there, seems like you've got yourself in a bit of a mess. What's the situation?"

The Lieutenant, who's name tag read Kirkland, spun startled and stared wide eyed at Jack and his men, ducking as another volley of rounds hit the vehicle.

Jack smiled his best easy going smile, trying to calm the LT's nerves and reached out, gently pushing the barrel of the rifle that was pointed at his face in a safer direction. "LT, I'd appreciate it if you'd point that thing towards the bad guys, me an my boys just got here, no sense in starting off on the wrong foot." The corner of Jack's mouth turned up which did nothing as far as Mac was concerned to ease the LT's nerves, as the rest of Jack's face betrayed the attempt at seeming to be friendly. The laser stare, currently fixed on the LT's forehead as if it were a target was a dead giveaway Jack was not happy.

The Lieutenant's eyebrows rose as he realized what Jack was talking about and dropped his head. "Sorry about that, I wasn't expecting you guys so soon, and we've been taking small arms fire. We haven't been able to get any air support since the A10's left and we're getting low on ammo." His words were punctuated by the men to his right firing toward the village on full auto.

"Yes sir, I understand that." Jack pat him on the shoulder, "We just got word, couple of my men were some of the wounded here, you got any more that need cas evac?"

The Lieutenant shook his head. "No, I lost two men, all that's left is just me and six other guys." He looked to his right indicating where his men were.

Jack leaned back getting a good look at where the rest of the LT's men were at then glanced up toward the turret of the humvee. "Is the 50 still operational?"

The Lieutenant shrugged his shoulders, "I have no idea, none of us are qualified on it so, doesn't really matter, and the guys that are shooting at us are somewhere either in the irrigation ditch, in the trees, or behind the walls over there." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. Once the A10's come back, we were going to make a run for it and see if we can get close to that wall to the west and out flank them.

Jack poked his head over the hood of the truck before ducking back down as another volley of enemy fire buzzed by. "Well, sir, that's a pretty large area, you guys haven't been able to pinpoint where they're at yet?" Jack hadn't meant for the question to sound like the LT and his soldiers didn't know what they were doing, but by the way they were firing on full auto, being low on ammo and not knowing exactly where the enemy was at spoke to the LT and his men's inexperience.

"I mean until you've got a hard target for the A10's I don't think running through that field is such a great idea, why don't you and your men sit back and take a break for a few while we get this all sorted out yeah?" Jack raised his eyebrows with a slight head nod, trying to convince the LT it was the best solution.

The Lieutenant seemed to be contemplating Jacks words as more rounds hit the truck and his men returned fire.

Mac had been taking cover next to Jack and while he and the LT were getting acquainted he'd been marking positions on his map that he suspected the insurgents were firing from. He tapped Jack on the shoulder. "I think these are the most likely spots." he handed him the map. "I caught a few muzzle flashes in the trees and it looks like based on the puffs of dust coming from the walls, I'd bet there's at least three guys here." He used his pencil to point to the spot on the map he was referring to.

The Lieutenant looked over Jack's shoulder to see what Mac was pointing out and noticed the EOD patch. "I doubt a few puffs of dirt are anything to go off of, we've been here for a while now and have been hitting that area, _and_ we're still taking fire. Besides, he's EOD..." He said as if to say an EOD tech didn't know anything other than bombs.

Jack briefly ignored the LT, looking over Mac's head at Box and Coop. Both men were firing occasional three round burst and by the angle of their rifles, each one had taken an area Mac had indicated. Jack nodded and turned back to the LT. "Well sir," Jack paused, his jaw clenching as he seemed to be choosing his words, he pointed at the LT, "I think. _You_ need to tell _your_ men to calm the fuck down and stop firing on full fucking auto." Gone was the easy going Jack, replaced by one very irritated, very pissed off Delta Operator.

"I get it, this isn't your thing but by that pretty little West Point ring on your finger there," Jack poked the LT in the chest. "You should know better. Now, get your shit squared away before you get those young men killed." Jack let his words sink in watching as the Lieutenant processed the fact he had just been officially assaulted and informed he was an incompetent officer.

He leaned close to the LT. "And, this EOD tech..." Jack thumbed over his shoulder, "Has seen more real action than you and your men combined. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go uncluster this fuck you've got yourself into."

Jack didn't wait for a reply, "Mac, stay here, I'm gonna go chat with Box and Coop for a few, be right back." He put a hand on Mac's shoulder as he crouched and ran towards their position.

Left alone with the Lieutenant, who at this point was looking fairly pissed, Mac just shrugged.

The Lieutenant glared at Jack's back before turning is gaze back to Mac. "What's that man's rank soldier?"

Mac stalled by turning to look at Jack as if he didn't know who the Lieutenant was referring to. While Jack and his men had a very long leash as far as the Army was concerned, not having to adhere to the Army dress code, grooming standards and in certain circumstances, disregard rank, Mac did not have that luxury. Which, on occasion he admitted was not all that bad. Once, the guys had goaded him into forgoing regulation by trying to grow a beard, he'd ended up having to threaten not to fix the A/C if they didn't stop calling him Peach Fuzz.

Mac looked at the LT, "I'm sorry sir, I'm not at liberty to say, um... I think it's classified?" He shrugged, taking a page out of Jack's book and offering a half smile.

The Lieutenant huffed and turned to his men. "Alright, listen up, we're going to go get those bastards, these men can provide cover."

He turned back to Mac and for the first time, realized he wasn't carrying a weapon. "Where's your weapon soldier?"

Mac didn't hesitate, "I don't carry a firearm sir, not part of my MOS." Mac prepared for the LT to chew him out, but the LT just shook his head and looked disgusted.

He started to leave then turned and pointed a finger at Mac. "You just stay here then and tell your mystery guy in the T-shirt to lay down cover fire."

Mac reached out and grabbed the LT's sleeve as he was leaving, the LT gave the offending hand a look before glaring at Mac. "LT, I don't think that's a good idea, you've already been hit by what's most likely a remote det and it's obvious that the village is hostile, there's no telling what's in that field, for all we know it could be mined or there could be more IED's."

The LT jerked his arm out of Mac's grip and sneered. "We've been sitting here long enough and I'll be damned if you or that bunch you're running with is going to take these guys down. Those were my men I lost and the only reason we haven't gone after them is because we didn't have the resources. Now, you keep your opinions to yourself soldier, we've got work to do."

Mac watched as the LT moved to one of his men with a radio and heard the transmission, telling Ellis and his Rangers to lay down covering fire while he and his men moved.

Mac turned back to look at Jack, hoping he was listening to this suicide mission unfold. By the way Jack's face looked, there was no doubt he'd heard the radio communication between Kirkland and the Rangers and started to run back towards Mac's position.

To Mac, everything happened in slow motion, the LT and his men left their positions behind the truck, heading down the embankment towards the village, Ellis and the rest of Tiger two started coming up onto the road headed towards the vehicles while providing suppressing fire toward the village, and the enemy fire increased from sporadic pot shots to a level of intensity that said there were a lot more of them than originally estimated.

Mac heard Jack's transmission as the operator ran by headed toward the Lieutenant, _"Kirkland! Where the fuck are you going! Hold position!"_

Mac ducked as more rounds flew by, he heard Coop relay what was happening to Tiger one, in what was definitely not considered proper radio procedure, painting a very descriptive picture of what was happening and his apparent feelings for the Lieutenant.

Box skid to a stop on his knees in front of Mac and pulled the truck door open looking back at Mac. "Hey kid, I'm gonna climb in here and see if that 50 works, keep your head down, but when I ask for ammo, send it up."

Mac nodded and crawled toward the rear of the vehicle, trying to see where Jack had gone when all hell broke loose.

Just before Box opened up with the 50, he yelled, "RPG!" Mac heard the distinctive whine and ducked as the round exploded somewhere on the other side of the truck and to his left, followed by a series of smaller explosions, drowned out by Boxer firing the 50 cal machine gun.

Mac scrambled forward, reaching the back of the truck and looked in horror as a dust cloud had risen above the berm. He couldn't see Jack or Kirkland and his men.

Boxer's firing had slowed the enemy fire somewhat. He ducked as low as humanly possible while running to the edge of the berm and instantly knew this was going to be a very long day.

0-0-0

Jack was furious as he ran towards the Lieutenant's position, telling him as much over the coms, but the man just wouldn't listen and kept his men moving through the old abandoned poppy fields, leapfrogging from one dried up section to the other. They'd gone about a hundred yards when Jack heard the sound of the RPG. he ran forward intending to use the shallow depression in the churned up earth for cover when he saw one of Kirkland's men get thrown off his feet. Jack's brain instantly processed what he was seeing as he dove for the depression. The concussion of the RPG, coupled with the series of smaller explosions, felt like he'd been hit in the head with a sledge hammer.

Jack lay on his back taking a mental inventory of his condition. He slowly looked down toward his feet, relieved to see everything was still there. Head pounding, he grabbed the transmit button, on his vest. _"Tiger one, Tiger two and Spartan, we've got mines, I repeat mines in the poppy field."_

Jack let his hand drop to his side, taking a few deep breaths before rolling to his stomach to peer over his 12 inch tall dirt barrier. _"Tiger one, Tiger one, Spartan, how copy?"_

Ryan's voice came over the radio. _"Go ahead Jack, you ok? What's the situation?"_

Jack was thankful Marconi had dispensed with the call signs, as far as he was concerned if there were only a small number of guys on the ground and they all knew each other it seemed silly to not call them by name, especially since they were all near the road. _"Ryan, I'm gonna let you handle the coms, A Lieutenant Kirkland, and six of his engineers are in a mine field, one, possibly two detonations and that RPG hit damn close."_

Jack could hear some of the men yelling and stuck his head up to get a look but had to duck back down as the zip of a bullet whizzed by. _"And we're still taking fire." He added._

 _"Good copy Jack, we'll get some air support and hold off on medivac until we can get EOD in here to clear the mine field, what's your location?"_

Jack looked back toward the road to get his bearings. _"I'm uh..."_ he stopped his transmission when he saw the distinctive shape of the reason he was going gray, slowly making his way toward him, "Son of a... Mac! What the hell are you doing?"

Mac looked up, crawling on his belly, using a two foot long metal rod to probe the ground in front of him. "I'm doing my job Jack, just stay there and don't move, those were mines that exploded with that RPG"

Jack dropped his head on the dirt, taking a calming breath. "Yeah Mac, I'm well aware of what's going on dude. Haven't you been listening to the radio?"

Mac looked up and shook his head. "No, there's too much chatter, hang on, I'll be there in a few minutes."

 _"Jack, your transmission broke, what's your position, over."_ Marconi asked again.

Jack sighed frustrated, _"I'm about twenty meters from the road, Kirkland and his men were another thirty meters in front of me and to the right, at last visual, unknown distance at this time, over."_

 _"Good copy Jack, Blue 1 and 2 are two minutes out, pop smoke for a visual."_

Jack watched as Mac got closer, the enemy rounds kicking up small puffs of dirt around him as he moved. "Hey Mac, if I throw a smoke grenade is it heavy enough to set off a mine?" Jack held the canister up.

"Mac didn't bother looking up as he methodically probed the soil and kept inching forward. "It might, I wouldn't recommend it."

"Fuck!" Jack growled, _"Negative on the smoke Randy, Just tell the A10's not to shoot anybody in the poppy field within ninety meters of the road, how copy?"_

 _"Good Copy, Jack, I'll relay the information, TOC is scrambling EOD but it's gonna be a while, seems we're not the only ones in the shit today."_

Mac still had another ten feet to go when the enemy decided to start firing in earnest again. Jack raised his rifle to fire in the direction of the enemy when he saw one of Kirkland's men stand up to run back toward the road. He made it three steps before going down out of Jack's line of sight.

"Mac, hurry the fuck up! I can't cover you from here, friendlies are in the way!" Jack kept his rifle pointed toward the village but couldn't risk sending rounds down range. He'd never forgive himself if he ended up shooting one of the engineers if one of them stood up in the path of his bullets.

The Roar of the A10's overhead temporarily stopped the enemy fire as the brrrrrrrp of 70 rounds per second of 30mm ammunition filled the air.

"I'll be there in a minute Jack, calm down." Mac continued to probe the clumps of dried soil.

"Calm down he says, I am calm, pissed, yeah, frustrated, definitely." He mumbled to himself.

Mac was within arms reach and still had his head down moving forward inch by inch.

"But calm... I'm the god damned poster child of calm!" Jack sat up and reached back grabbing the back of Mac's vest, jerking him forward the last two feet and stuffing him behind the small mound of dirt as the A10's made another pass.

Mac squirmed out of Jack's hold turning on him angrily, "What the hell Jack! You trying to blow us up?"

Jack patted Mac's shoulder lightly, eyes crinkled at the corners and grinned. "Calm down Mac."

Mac opened his mouth and snapped it shut glaring at Jack, his anger quickly forgotten, suddenly concerned. "Are you ok?"

Jack's brow crinkled in confusion at the look Mac was giving him. He looked down at his chest and arms to reassure himself he was indeed ok. "Yeah, why?"

Mac pointed to Jack's face. "Your nose is bleeding and you've got blood coming out of your ear there."

Jack wiped his nose, looking at the blood covered fingertips. "Oh, guess I got a bit too close to the party favors, that RPG just about kicked my ass."

Mac eyed Jack suspiciously, "You're sure, no loss of consciousness, dizziness, blurred vision."

It was Jack's turn to look annoyed, "Dude, I'm fine, ears are still ringing a bit but that's all."

Mac held his closed fist up in front of Jack's face. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Jack sighed and shook his head, "Mac, if you ask somebody how many fingers you're holding up, it's not supposed to be a trick question, hold up a god damned finger and I'll tell ya!"

The corner of Mac's mouth turned up as he slowly extended his middle finger. "Better?"

Jack slapped Mac's hand away. "Smart ass."

Jack's radio crackled to life. _"Hey Jack, the A10's are heading out, they did a pretty good job on that grove of trees near the irrigation ditch, couldn't give them a good location on the guys behind the wall though and Blue 1 says they'll rearm and return, should be about an hour."_

Jack looked at Mac. "How long to get to Kirkland and his boys?"

Mac poked his head over the tiny berm. "How far did you say they were?"

"Last I saw them, about thirty meters forward and to the left, could be more based on where that last guy stood up."

Mac quickly calculated the distance and the time it took to clear an area. "Hour if I'm careful, depends on what I find."

Jack didn't like the idea of waiting that long on the off chance there were survivors, but he wasn't willing to risk more casualties going faster if it was going to be a body recovery.

 _"Hey Box, Coop, either of you got a visual on Kirkland and his guys?"_ Jack set his head down, and closed his eyes, wanting for an answer and giving his neck a rest from peering over the mound of dirt.

Coop's voice came over the radio, _"I got a visual on some of them, boss, obvious KIA, can't see the rest of them."_

Jack couldn't tell if Coop was being literal or if he were talking about whole bodies. Either way, they couldn't just write off the rest of Kirkland and his men. _"Copy, keep eyes on that wall and start lookin for entry points other than going across this freakin field."_

 _"You got it boss."_

Jack looked up to ask Mac a question but the young EOD tech was gone. "Mac! What the hell are you..." Jack looked over the dirt berm to see Mac probing the ground 15 feet in front, heading toward Kirkland's location. "God dammit Mac!"

Mac looked back and held his hand up when Jack started to belly crawl over the berm. "Jack, stay there! I've only cleared my path."

Jack looked at the ground trying to pick out Mac's trail in the hard churned dirt and moved to his left to start over the berm again, and again, Mac stopped him. "Jack, I'm serious, just stay there. Or go back up to the road, I left you a trail, just follow the crumbs."

"God dammit Mac! I can't cover you from here and the A10's can't hit the wall yet. You're gonna get your ass shot!" Jack stayed on top of the berm watching as Mac turned and began probing the ground again, waving behind him without looking at Jack. "Just go Jack, the sooner I get to Kirkland and his men, the sooner we can get them help if they need it."

Jack looked back toward the road and sure enough, there was a trail of honest to goodness bread crumbs. "Dude, you brought friggin bread? Who brings bread to a firefight?"

Mac's head dropped in annoyance before looking back at Jack. "I did not bring bread to a firefight Jack, it's the crackers out of the MRE's, and they were sitting in the truck with the 50 that Boxer's in."

Jack shook his head, "And you just thought you'd bring a snack while on your way to hunt for mines?"

"Jack, I'm really trying to concentrate here if you don't mind." Mac said perturbed.

Jack was about to reply when Boxer opened up with the 50.

 _"Boss, got movement behind the wall, think they've got RPG's."_ Coop transmitted, _"And I think I might have a path lined out we can take to get into that village."_

Jack quickly studied the terrain Mac was working in and determined it had just enough of a depression that he wasn't completely visible from behind the wall. "Mac, stay there, bad guys got RPG's. Put your godamned ear piece back in. We're gonna go get these fuckers so just stay there and don't do anything stupid till I tell you."

Mac stopped and looked back, quirking an eyebrow. "You're going to tell me when to do something stupid?"

Jack shook his head and scowled, "Dude, you know what I mean. Just..." he waved a hand dismissively and turned to follow Mac's bread crumbs. "...stay there!"

Jack scrambled up the short incline to the road as he heard and felt a few bullets zing by. _"Randy, you got a bead on those fuckers trying to take my head off?"_

 _"Negative Jack, they've got some pretty good cover, think they're shooting through small holes in the wall, wait... RPG!"_

Jack dove for cover behind the back of the Humvee Boxer was in, silently thanking his guys for bringing his elbow pads and gloves as he scrambled toward the rear wheel.

The round exploded on the side of the hummer, shaking the truck enough that the wheel came off the ground.

The ear piece Jack wore was filled with conversations he couldn't make out, the smell of burning rubber filled his nose as he tried to push himself off of the asphalt.

By the time he got to his knees, Coop was at his side, hooking a large paw under his arm and looked him in the eye.

Jack could see Coop's lips moving but couldn't understand what he was saying. Suddenly remembering where everyone was at and what had just happened, he pushed Coop off and scrambled to open the rear door.

"Box!" He yelled, but it sounded like he was yelling through cotton as he saw the big man crumpled on the floor, blood coming from the side of his head.

Jack tried to climb in after him but was quickly pulled back by Coop. The big blonde held Jack by the vest and gave him the hand signal to stop as he steered Jack towards the back tire and gently swept his leg behind Jack's knee, forcefully guiding the team leader into a sitting position on the ground.

Jack tried to get up but was stopped by Coops hand on his shoulder. Coop knelt down and pointed at the ground "Stay put, I'll get him." He said slowly so Jack could understand.

Jack nodded, "Okay Got It!" He said apparently too loudly as he saw Coop cringe and mime turning down the volume.

Having taken care of Jack, Coop turned his attention to the other Texan of the bunch. Boxer was starting to come around, arms and legs flailing as he tried to figure out where he was at.

Coop grabbed his leg and gave it a squeeze. "Box, you're alright man, I got you!"

Box seemed to get his bearings and shook his head as if to clear the cobwebs. "God damn that was close!" He looked Coop up and down checking for obvious signs of injury, "Everybody alright?"

Coop motioned for Box to get out of the truck and reached forward to give the man a hand. "Boss got his bell rung pretty good I think, and I don't think he can hear too good right now. You were out when we first checked, got any new holes in ya?"

Box climbed out of the truck and pushed Coops hands away, blinking his eyes, trying to focus and reached for the side of his head."

Coop pulled his hand down. "Don't touch, lemme check it out first." Coop none too gently pushed Box's head to the side trying to find the source of all the blood running down his face and neck. "Box, I hate to tell you this man, but you're missing a tiny bit off the top of your ear dude."

Box reached up and grabbed his ear, probing it with his gloved hand. "Coop." He said seriously. "You're an asshole!"

Coop smiled and slapped Box on the back. "Sorry man, couldn't resist, you're ear's fine. You do have a pretty good laceration just above your ear though, probably gonna take quite a few stitches, want me to wrap it?"

Both men ducked down as the Rangers started opening up, obviously finding something to shoot at.

"Nah, it'll clot pretty soon, I'll get it taken care of when we get back." Box looked around Coop then back toward the front of the truck. "Where's Wyatt?"

Coops face turned pale as he spun to look at the spot he'd left their team leader. "Shit! I left him right here."

Box keyed his radio, _"Jack, what's your location?"_

Coop shook his head, "I don't think he can hear you, he couldn't hear after that round hit, had some blood coming out his ear."

Box shoved Coop to the side and peeked around the back of the truck before looking back at Coop. "I'll give you one guess where he went."

"Son of a bitch, I didn't even think about that." Coop shook his head. "Jack always says baby brother's the one that's gonna give him gray hair. Whaddya suppose the both of them are doin to us?"

Box took a deep breath and keyed his radio. _"Mac, you copy?"_

Mac stopped probing the ground in front of him. He'd tried to follow Jack's orders to stay put but once Jack had left and there was a lull in the gunfire, he had heard moaning coming from the area where Kirkland and his men should be. Deciding he could do more good there than sitting waiting for Jack to do whatever it was he had planned, he continued moving forward, one inch at a time. He was surprised to hear Box calling him, all manner of things running through his head in an instant. _"Yeah Box, what is it, everything ok?"_

Box shared a knowing look with Coop before answering. _"Yeah, we're fine, uh, any chance you can see behind you back toward the road and let us know if you see Jack?"_

Mac almost forgot exactly what it was he was doing and where he was at as he started to sit up to take a look behind him towards the road. The zip crack of a single shot over his head reminded him in an instant and he ducked back down. _"Box, I can't get a good look back at the road from where I'm at. If you guys come down, stay on the trail marked with the cracker crumbs."_ Mac put his hand up as if he were talking face to face with his friends. _"And before you ask, it's the only thing I could find to mark the clear trail."_

Box shook his head and smiled. _"Copy that Hansel, we'll stay on the bread crumbs."_

Coop moved in front of Box, slapping him on the back as he passed. "Well, should we go collect our fearless leader."

To be continued...

A/N: Hope you enjoyed, I mean no disrespect to any West Point graduates, or engineer's. It's a beautiful campus and an exceptional academy. Kirkland served a purpose and he's fictional so...

I do most of my writing while on duty. I'm off tomorrow and the next day, chapter 3 will be up when I finish editing and I might get it posted by Tuesday but plan on it definitely being up by Wed.

-Gib-


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews, favorites and follows. It makes me happy and a bit humbled you guys like reading what is essentially me dumping out my toy box and playing with my Army men. ;-)

As always, thanks to Dlwells51 for making this legible. Sending a shout out to SlippedHalo8186, who informs me, "RPGs give off more of a whooshing and Fizzing sound." S.H, keep 'em coming man, I like it.

Warning: violence

Disclaimer: Don't own anything having to do with the show.

Glossary:

203 round: A large projectile fired from a "tube" on the underside of a rifle. Shaped like a minion makes a big boom.

0-0-0

Jack had understood that Coop wanted him to stay put while he pulled Boxer out of the truck and he had done just that, until his head started to clear and he looked around. Small puffs of dirt and asphalt appeared out of no where, the men further down the road ducked, only to stand up and fire their weapons, the expended brass flying through the air. Watching everything with nothing but ringing in his ears was a strange sensation.

They were obviously engaging the enemy again, to what extent, Jack couldn't tell. He pulled the earpiece out and stuck a finger in his ear and wiggled it in an attempt to clear his ear and make the ringing stop, before replacing the ear piece.

Turning to look around the back of the truck, he watched as a line of mini dirt clods exploded in the field, raising his rifle, using the optics to scan the field, he saw movement for just a second then it disappeared. The brief glimpse he did get was no doubt a certain EOD tech disobeying his orders to stay put. And from the constant puffs of dirt, the enemy knew he was there.

Jack lowered his rifle and shook his head, It was just a matter of time before they decided to use something other than rifles to shoot at Mac and that just wasn't acceptable.

He looked back towards Coop who was still busy taking care of Boxer inside the vehicle. Jack looked back down the road to where Ellis and his men were set up, he'd spotted a ranger firing an M4 equipped with a 203 grenade launcher. Deciding he needed an upgrade in weapons, he called over his shoulder, "Hey Coop, I'm gonna go grab a 203 from the Rangers." He could hear himself talk even though to him, it sounded like he was under water. Not waiting for an acknowledgement from the occupied man, Jack pushed himself up off the ground and sprinted toward the Rangers.

0-0-0

Box and Coop had followed Mac's bread crumbs until they stopped at a small depression in the dirt. "Mac, the bread crumbs stopped, which way do we go?"

Mac stopped to answer, slightly confused and a little bit worried. "You guys haven't found him yet?"

"Negative."

"Well, that was all of the crackers I had, sorry guys but you can't come any further, it's marked but I only cleared a narrow path. I'm almost to Kirkland and I think I can hear them." Mac poked the stick into a suspiciously smooth spot and felt it hit something. "Look, I think I just found another mine, let me know if you find Jack and if he's ok alright."

Box and Coop looked back toward the road, "Now what? Coop asked as they started to carefully turn around and head back toward the road.

As the two operators made their way back, ducking the occasional zip of a bullet, Box tried his radio again. _"Jack, you copy? Come on Wyatt answer the damn radio."_

0-0-0

It had taken a bit of persuasion to swap rifles with the Ranger, Jack wasn't exactly sure what the young sergeant had said but if he read people right, it was something less than enthusiastic as he also handed over his supply of 203 rounds.

Jack thanked him and promised him he'd give it back when this was all over with, telling the young sergeant to take care of his own rifle while he was gone.

As he was about to leave, the Sergeant grabbed Jack's shoulder and pointed to his ear piece. At Jack's confused look, the sergeant held up his own radio. Recognition crossed Jack's face, someone was trying to get a hold of him. He pointed toward his ear, "Can't hear anything! Thanks for the weapon!" The sergeant cringed, at the volume. "Sorry, dude!" Jack apologized waving a hand as he left.

As he was running back toward the humvee, Jack could hear muffled noises coming from his ear piece.

He was relieved his hearing seemed to be coming back, but he still couldn't tell exactly what it was they were saying.

Ducking as he ran, throwing his arm up to shield his head, he watched for the telltale sign he was being shot at, looking for the small clouds of dust or rocks being chipped from the asphalt and surrounding dirt.

As he got closer to the truck, he could see it was empty. He looked around and spotted Box and Coop making their way up the short embankment. Their faces a mixture of relief, surprise and anger directed at Jack's look of confusion.

Once all three were back behind the truck, Boxer grabbed Jack by the vest and pulled him close, he yelled. "Wyatt, what the hell were you doing!"

Jack could make out most of the words and fired back with a question of his own before answering. "What the hell were you guys doing down in the poppy field? I went to get a bit more firepower." He held up the rifle and pack of 203 rounds as proof.

Coop planted a large paw on the top of Jack's helmet and tilted his head back, turning Jack's head from side to side while watching his eyes.

Jack pulled his head back, annoyed. "I'm fine, gettin some of my hearing back too. Coop, you said you think you got a way to that village?"

Box leaned into Coop and kept his voice low while looking directly at Jack purposefully letting him know they were talking about him. "Well, how is he?"

Jack craned his neck, trying to pick up what they were saying.

Coop shifted his bulk just enough so that Jack couldn't see the conversation, as Boxer continued to maintain eye contact with the suspicious team leader. "Well, he's definitely concussed, but he's still on his feet and hasn't hurled all over our boots so that's a good sign." Coop shrugged. "And he says he's getting his hearing back sort of, so, I'd say he's operational as long as we keep an eye on him and don't let him do anything stupid." Coop turned back to face Jack and smiled only serving to make Jack more uncomfortable.

His eyes shifted from one man to the other. "What? Let's get this dog and pony on the road man, Mac's out there playing frogger with a bunch of land mines, we might as well keep the bad guys from pickin him off."

"I'll take lead." Boxer announced.

Jack started to pass Box, apparently not hearing the other man, or ignoring him, Box couldn't tell which. He reached out and grabbed Jack by the shoulder, spinning him around.

Box leaned forward and looked Jack in the eye, holding up his index finger. "Jack, now you listen to me. Me and Coop are gonna let you come along but..."

Jack didn't let him finish, stepping close enough to be nose to nose with his long time friend. "Let me come along, of course I'm comin, why the hell wouldn't..."

Box stepped closer, closing the gap even more, effectively cutting Jack off with a slight chest bump. He'd known Jack most of their lives and the man had a stubborn streak a mile wide. Tell him he can't do something and he'd try his dambdest to prove you wrong. "Listen to me, you've got a freaking concussion and your hearing is shit right now brother. I'm taking lead and that's final."

Coop stood back and watched the exchange, it reminded him of old videos he'd seen of his beloved Dodgers head coach going toe to toe with the home plate umpire... _only without the spare tire around their middle,_ he thought, and laughed at the mental image. He half expected Boxer to throw his hand up in the air and yell "you're outa here!"

Both men looked at Coop, wondering just what it was he found so funny. The big man shrugged, "Just waitin for one of you to start kicking dirt on the other guy's boots."

Both men looked at him confused, Jack took a deep breath and stepped back, scrubbing a hand down his face, making his eyes stand out bright white against the dirt and dried blood. "Alright Box, fine! Now, can we go... Boss?"

Box winked at Coop and bent slightly waving the big man forward, "Lead the way dear."

Coop shook his head, at the look on his friends faces. Jack had taken position in the middle of the trio, still looking perturbed. "Oh yeah, this is gonna be fun." He said moving across the road. He keyed his radio, " _Mac, we found Jack, he's fine, how copy?"_

0-0-0

Mac pulled a small paint brush out of his vest before answering the radio. _"Good copy Coop, good to hear."_ He answered, concentrating on what was in front of him at the moment and swept the last of the dirt away from the small depression he'd dug out. As soon as he'd uncovered a small portion of the device, he knew exactly what he was dealing with. "Dammit" The mine was a PFM-1 mine, also known as a Green Parrot among other names, left over from the Afghan-Russian conflict. It wasn't considered powerful by current standards but at the moment, from where Mac was at, it would be deadly and it was impossible to disarm.

Mac carefully pushed himself away from the device, backtracking his trail until he had enough room to maneuver around the mine and find a different path. _"So much for the direct route_ ," he thought. Taking a moment to figure out his next move when he remembered Jack saying they were going to find a way into the small village. He and keyed his radio. _"Jack, how copy?"_

Coops voice rang in his ear _. "Go ahead Mac, Jack's hearing is a little screwed right now, what's up?"_

Mac's brow furrowed, he'd known Jack had been close to the first RPG and subsequent mines but he should have gotten most of his hearing back by now. Shaking the thoughts and getting back on task, he pushed the transmit button. _"Coop, the mine I uncovered is an old Russian mine, I can't disarm it and there's not going to be a pattern, they used to drop them from the_ _air."_

 _"Alright Mac, thanks for the info. We're making our way towards the bad guys, don't think we'll have to worry about mines, on the route we're taking_."

Mac had no idea where they were but wanted to emphasize how dangerous these old devices could be. " _Coop, it only takes about ten pounds of force to set these things off and probably less now that they've been in the ground since the eighties_."

 _"Got it Mac, appreciate the info over."_

Mac sighed hoping wherever they were they were safe.

Looking forward, he had less than fifteen feet to go before he would get over the last of the old irrigation berms and be able to make contact with Kirkland and his men. Mac had listened to the radio and waited for an answer, every time Marconi had tried to call the Lieutenant. So far, no one had answered but Mac knew that the mines weren't designed to kill, they were designed to cause severe injuries to the legs and feet. With that in mind, he was somewhat encouraged he would find survivors as long as the RPG hadn't been a direct hit and they'd treated their injuries quickly.

Taking a chance, he yelled toward the silent group. "Hey, I'm EOD, if you can hear me, don't move, you're in a mine field with old Russian mines! Don't do anything, I'm coming!"

There was no reply but Mac decided that with all the gunfire, RPG's going off and the inexperience of the men he was trying to save, it wouldn't be surprising if they had _checked out_ as Jack liked to call it when newcomers decided it was best to just hunker down and take cover instead of taking the fight to the enemy.

He stuck the probe in the dirt and continued the methodical search, and path clearing.

0-0-0

They'd been running for almost a half mile on the backside of the road when Box held up his hand. "Alright, this ought to be far enough, you two ok, need a breather or anything." He asked a bit winded.

Jack and Coop shared a look and simultaneously answered a definitive "No!"

Jack started up the small embankment, taking the lead out of pure habit, causing Box to glare at Coop. "You're supposed to be keeping an eye on him man," he said as he started to catch up with Jack.

"Dude, you try and keep an eye on him while looking for bad guys, watching for land mines and IED's and see how you do." He complained as he took long strides to catch up.

Box ran up the small hill and reached out, grabbing Jack by the back of the vest, pulling him back slightly stopping his forward progress. "Whoa there cowboy, remember what I said? You're taking a back seat on this one hoss."

Jack grit his teeth and glared at his two travel companions. "Fine, lead the way dude, it's your show."

As they crossed the road, they could hear sporadic gunfire in the distance. "Sounds like the boys are still in it." Coop said stating the obvious.

The traveled in silence until they came to the edge of the irrigation ditch. Box pushed his way through the trees, and motioned that the coast was clear.

Jack turned toward the bigger man bringing up the rear as he eased his way into the tepid water, "So, Coop, Mac said the mines could be set off by how many pounds?"

Coop shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't really pay attention to be honest," He rubbed the back of his neck, "I figured the movin water would have set off any ordinance a long time ago right?"

Jack keyed his radio, hoping the channel they were using would travel that far. _"Mac, you copy?"_

Mac stopped pushing the probe into a particularly suspicious spot and answered. _"Jack? Your transmission is a little scratchy."_

Jack turned his shoulders in an attempt to find better reception as they moved through the waist high water, following the ditch. _"Hey, how much does water weigh?"_

Mac's face scrunched up in utter confusion at the question that seemed completely out of place, considering the amount of dust covered ground he'd crossed without so much as a single weed growing in the barren soil. _"Jack, are you ok? Where's Coop, let me talk to him."_

Box snickered at the tone of Mac's question.

Jack just threw his hand in the air and looked at Coop. "What the hell does he want to talk to you for?"

Coop raised a hand trying to diffuse the irritated team leader. "All I told him was that we found you and your hearing was a little messed up last time he tried to call you on the radio." He shrugged, "I think he just assumes you still can't hear... maybe." Coop said sheepishly.

Jack opened his mouth and snapped it shut, trying to remember when all of this supposedly took place.

 _"Jack, you still there_?" Mac's worried voice came through the static.

Jack keyed his radio. _"Yes, Mac, I'm still here and Coop and Box are being the perfect annoying baby sitters. Now that we've got that out of the way, how much does water weigh, enough to set off a mine?"_

Mac cocked his head to the side suddenly realizing what their plan was. _"Well, technically, water weighs roughly 8 point 35 pounds per gallon but what you're talking about would be a bit different, because it's moving, or at least..."_

Jack shook his head and raised his eyebrows at Box who had turned to give Jack the "you had to ask" look.

Jack waved him off dismissively as they kept moving, "Give him a minute, he'll get to the point eventually then we can be secure in the knowledge that if we blow ourselves up… Coop's idea was shit."

Jack squinted as Mac's staticky voice was still wreaking havoc on his abused ears and pounding headache. _"... and since a column of water 2.31 feet high will exert a pressure of roughly half a pound per square inch at it's base, which technically is from a static source and considering the water has been moving, hang on_."

Jack squeezed his eyes shut and held his hand up when Coop groaned. "He's almost there, I can tell, just give him a sec."

Mac pulled the probe out of the ground and scratched a few quick calculations into the soil ignoring the random bullets flying above his head, when he finished the calculations, coming up with a reasonable number, he keyed his radio, _"you should be fine_."

Box let out a breath he was holding, listening to Mac's entire monologue had made his head swim. "Well, glad we got that all figured out." He mumbled.

 _"Thanks Mac, knew you'd have the answer on the tip of your tongue._ " Jack said deadpan. _"How you doing, still sittin where I left you waiting for me to tell you when you could do something stupid or are you still playing where's the land mines_."

 _"I'm uh just about to Kirkland's location, had to take a few detours along the way_." Mac slipped the wire probe back into the soil.

 _"Alright buddy, just keep your damn head down and if it looks like they're all KIA, just find some cover and sit tight, we'll be back in a while, over."_

 _"Got it Jack, be careful and don't do anything crazy."_

Jack smiled, not bothering to answer Mac but commenting to Box and Coop. "You believe him, crawling out into the middle of a freaking field with little to no cover looking for land mines and he tells us not to do anything crazy."

Box snorted, "So, walking up an irrigation ditch headed toward an unknown shit hole village looking to take on an unknown number of enemy combatants while worrying about land mines, RPG's and IED's is perfectly sane… Yep, not crazy at all."

 **To be continued...**

A/N: Well, hope you enjoyed this, I've been playing with this, trying to get the perspective of the different characters during the same bit of time. The first part of this chapter seems a bit confusing and I think I should have put Jack's section at the end of the last chapter. Idk. Anyway, back to work tomorrow so I'll try to get the next chapter up tomorrow night depending on how the shift goes.

-Gib-


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, I'm glad you're still enjoying this. As always thanks to Dlwells51 for giving this a once over. All mistakes are mine, and there's probably a ton of them after I've edited.

 **Trigger warning**. Violence, Mines, casualties, Afghan village maneuvering.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything having to do with the tv show MacGyver.

Glossary:

9-line: Essentially a list of 9 things transmitted to call in CAS (close air support) medevac, cas evac etc. It sounds technical until you break it down into it's individual elements, then it makes sense. In my world, it's modified to call in tanker drops etc. And yeah, I totally geeked out on this half assed definition.

 **0-0-0**

Mac wiped the sweat from his eyes, he'd uncovered yet another mine. Glancing back the way he had come, he could see the zig zag pattern in the clumps of dirt he'd stacked as Cairns to mark his trail. The estimation he'd given Jack about how long it would take him to reach Kirkland and his men had been off, he'd been inching his way forward, having to change directions every time he'd encountered one of the mines and it was taking a lot longer than even he imagined. The zig zag pattern covered a total distance of forty to fifty feet while his forward progress had amounted to a mere fifteen.

 _I'm stuck in a virtual mine sweeper game._ He thought as he slowly backed away from the mine.

The rate of fire coming from the village had increased in intensity and he contemplated waiting for a lull before continuing on his next path. The last berm was four feet in front of him. He quickly calculated his rate of forward progress and the amount of time it took him to uncover each mine. His ETA to Kirkland if he kept going, and didn't get shot or blown up was less than ten minutes.

As he inched forward, he heard the sound of the A10 coming from behind him and noticed the enemy fire had gone back to being sporadic bursts. With the A10 overhead, he could move a little faster, taking advantage of the overhead support, he kept probing the soil.

Mac's radio crackled to life, it was Marconi calling Jack and asking for Spartan's position in relation to the town, but none of his friends had answered the inquiry.

Mac waited until after Marconi's second attempt to contact Jack before keying his own radio. _"Cap, this is Mac, EOD. I don't think they can hear you, they're out of range, how copy?"_

 _"Good copy, I'll have Blue 1 contact them direct."_

Mac satisfied the A10 would be able to contact Jack and get their position in order to avoid hitting them with friendly fire, continued his forward progress.

0-0-0

The trio were right at the outskirts of the windswept mud built, covered in dirt village when they heard the roar of the A10's engines. "Box, get on the horn and let Blue 1 know our position, I don't feel like getting taken out by our own guys today." Jack whispered behind Boxer.

"Roger that." Box stopped to switch channels and glared as Jack kept moving past him, taking the lead, not bothering to look at Box, instead keeping his eyes trained on both sides of the bank. There were earlier reports of enemy forces in the area they were currently walking through before the A10's had peppered the grove of trees lining the banks of the canal. Jack didn't want to be caught off guard by the enemy. He strained his eyes, trying to pick out anything that looked out of place, which only served to make the pounding headache he had worse. "This is not a good damn day." He thought as he kept moving forward.

Boxer glared at Coop, who shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Seems fine to me now, might as well give it up, he either takes lead here or he'll just do it when we get into the village, you know that."

Box rolled his eyes and waved Coop by. "You're as big as a mountain and as helpful as a damn post sometimes Coop. I swear."

Coop turned, lightly sloshing through the tepid water, "Hey, you're supposed to be the one in charge right now, I'm batting clean up remember. You go tell him to slow the fuck down and see how that works out for ya."

Box flipped the big man off and keyed his radio. _"Blue 1, Blue 1 this is Spartan how copy over."_

 _"Spartan, Blue 1 good copy, go."_

 _"Blue 1, Spartan, you've got friendlies to the east of the village in the green, I repeat, friendlies east of the village in the green, how copy over."_

 _"Spartan, Blue 1, good copy, friendlies east of the village in the green, pop smoke."_

 _"Blue 1, Spartan, negative on the smoke, we're goin stealth, how copy?"_

 _"Spartan, Blue 1, good copy, we'll stay away from that area, will continue to lay down cover for the guys in the field, still no approval to engage the shooters in the village. Break. You guys get eyes on shooters, clear friendlies and send coordinates, we'll hit em, how copy"_

 _"Blue 1, Spartan good copy, will do, have a nice day."_ Box ended the transmission and brought up the rear as the brrrrrrp of the A10's Gatling gun and the roar of the jet engine increase as the jet pulled out of the first of five gun runs.

"Man, I hope I'm never on the receiving end of one of those things." Coop turned to look at Box.

"Coop, if you don't want to be on the receiving end... You'd better hope the guy that's giving him his 9 line gets it right, or at least gives him the abbreviated version with the pertinent info." Box said still irritated.

Coop stopped, letting Box catch up to him. "Damn Box, what the hell's buggin you man? You really want to be in charge that bad or what?" Coop asked genuinely curious.

"No, dammit, I definitely don't want to be in Jack's shoes, too much shit to deal with." Box paused, looking somewhat embarrassed. "I just hate the freaking water man. I mean who knows what's in here." He waved at the murky fluid. "Could be some kind of damn creature no one's heard of before, crawlin into places I don't _even_ want to think about."

Coop had to grit his teeth to keep a straight face, "Well, Box, try not to think about things you don't know exist and concentrate on the things you do that could be in the water."

Box looked confused, "Like what?"

A toothy grin plastered Coop's face. "Mines for one, we know those exist right?"

Box rolled his eyes shaking his head. "You're a dick you know that? Get those tree trunks you call legs moving before Wyatt decides to go into that village all on his lonesome guns a blazin. I swear, that ole boy's gonna be the death of me."

Coop snorted, as he turned to catch up with Jack not more than twenty feet ahead. "Freaking Texan's man."

0-0-0

Jack crept forward as he got closer to the edge of the village, he could see that the irrigation ditch turned to the left and paralleled the dirt wall along the perimeter of the village.

No matter how many times he'd gone into one of these places, he always wondered if the maze of walls were built that way to act as buffers against bombs and explosives. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason for the strange maze. Of course, _they could be property line markers of a sort_ he thought, _sort of the locals version of a white picket fence_. Jack shook his head, mentally berating himself for letting his mind wander and forced himself to concentrate on the task at hand.

As he neared the turn, he saw a man sized hole in the dried mud wall, less than ten feet ahead.

Holding his hand up he signaled Coop and Box to stop and turned to make eye contact with his men. He pointed two fingers toward his eyes and pointed toward the hole, pointing it out to the two operators.

Box and Coop nodded their understanding and took positions against the bank, raising their rifles aiming toward the hole, providing cover for Jack as he slowly moved forward.

Approaching the hole at an angle, he could see behind the wall to the left but in order to see the other side to the right, he would have to cross the opening. Sidestepping against the bank, he paused, hand flexing on his rifle, It was always a mental game, everything in his body was telling him to stay put while his training said he had to move. Settling the nerves that came with the adrenalin, Jack breathed deep through his nose and pushed off the bank taking long strides sideways crossing the opening and landing on the other side of the hole, rifle pointed along the right side of the opening.

The area was clear, no one had taken a pot shot at him. In fact, the area seemed to be deserted. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as he started to search the opening for any signs of disturbed earth that could possibly be hiding an IED. Finding none, Jack kept his rifle trained on the opening and motioned for Coop and Box to move forward.

0-0-0

As Mac crested the small berm, he got his first look at the carnage that had been caused by the RPG and the Russian mines.

Kirkland and his men had obviously been bunched up when the RPG hit and the two mines had been set off.

Mac continued to probe the ground in front of him, intent on clearing a path to the downed men. It was obvious that several of them were dead but he needed to make sure the rest of the men weren't unconscious due to the blast or blood loss.

Mac inched forward, arms and legs quivering under the strain of having to keep his body rigid, while inching forward across the field. He wanted nothing more that to be able to sit up and stretch but that price was too much to pay. He'd raised up a few times, just enough while traversing the field to give the enemy something to shoot at. Luckily, they still didn't have a clean shot at him. But, the closer he got, the more accurate they were becoming.

Finally clearing a path to the first man, Mac knew it was the soldier he and Jack had watched try to outrun the Taliban bullets. Mac checked his pulse just to make sure and wasn't surprised to find there was none.

Not wanting to take the chance of moving the body, Mac probed the ground around him so that he would be able to shift his body to the left and head toward the next man.

Mac looked at the way the next man was laying and thought it odd. He wasn't moving but he was laying face down with his arms covering his head. _Not a normal position for a body to land after being blown up._ He thought.

Mac stopped, raising his head slightly, "Hey! Can you hear me!" The helmeted head moved a fraction and Mac's heart raced, the man was alive.

"Look, I know your scared, but just stay right where you're at, I'm EOD, and you're in a mine field." Mac probed the ground and inched forward, the tiredness in his limbs quickly forgotten.

Mac watched the ground intently, ignoring the sweat rolling down the sides of his face, dripping off his chin and the tip of his nose, probing the earth moving as fast as he could toward he downed soldier. This is why he was here, this is why he'd ignored Jack's orders to stay put. To save lives, no matter what.

When Mac looked up, he was greeted by the wide eyes of a freckle faced red head. The looks of the soldier had surprised him, in a complete break of his concentration, a random thought crossed his mind. _I'll bet his drill sergeant was a complete hard ass to this kid._ Mac smiled, "What's your name Private?"

"Andrews, but everyone calls me Opie." He said shakily, ducking and twitching as a burst of gunfire sounded from the village.

"Of course they do." Mac mumbled as he inched forward, concentrating on the path while talking. "I'm Mac, EOD, are you wounded?"

Opie looked up, "Got hit in the leg, I can't tell how bad, as soon as the first mine went off, I've been afraid to move. I can't feel my foot though, can you tell if it's still there?" He asked pleadingly.

Mac stopped and looked up, trying to get an assessment of Opie's condition. "I can't tell from here, I'm sorry. I'll be there in a minute and we'll see about getting you out of here Ok?"

Opie took a shaking breath, "I'm scared Mac. I can't see the other guys but I was yelling for them. Maxwell and me were the only ones left I think." Tears started streaming down the freckled face. "I told him to stay put but he didn't, said he was going to go get help." Opie sniffed, not wanting to risk moving to wipe his nose.

Mac was within arms reach and looked at the kid's pleading eyes. "Look Opie, it's not your fault ok?" Mac nodded his head, eyebrows raised making eye contact with the young private, trying to get his mind in the right place. He placed a comforting hand on the man's shoulder. "Opie, I really need you to stay still. I have to probe around you for mines ok, and I have to let the guys up on the road know you're ok, alright?."

"Alright Mac, I'm not going anywhere." He laughed nervously, "Just... will you tell me if my foot's still there?"

Mac reached out and risked a comforting pat on Opie's back. "You got it bud."

 _"Tiger 1 this is Mac, how copy?"_

 _"Go ahead Mac, what's the situation?"_ Marconi answered, over the rifle fire in the background.

 _"Sir, I've made it to Kirkland and his men, I have one confirmed KIA, PFC Maxwell, and one wounded, PFC Andrews, conscious but cannot move at this time. I have not been able to confirm the remainder of Lieutenant Kirkland's squad, sir... Break."_ Mac paused and swallowed, knowing he had to report his findings but he was within earshot of Opie and so far the PCF had been keeping it together.

Mac turned his head, looking back at Opie. "Opie, I'm sorry man but I don't think anybody else made it."

Opie's head dropped, "I kind of figured Mac, I saw the RPG hit."

Mac inhaled through his nose and keyed his radio, _"Sir, from where I'm at, Kirkland and the rest of the squad appear to be KIA, I'd like to get Opie... Um, PFC Andrews out of here sir."_

 _"I can get a medivac to your location son, but we still don't have authorization to use Blue 1 for anything other than putting holes in the dirt. Intel suggests this is a friendly village, despite what we're dealing with. Can you package him for a medivac?"_ Mac could hear the frustration in Marconi's voice, and it wasn't uncommon for the Taliban to move into an otherwise friendly village and intimidate the locals into fighting. Or they'd just take over all together, sometimes killing any who opposed them. It was a very fine line determining who was friend or foe.

 _"Negative on the medivac in our current position, the rotor wash could set off the mines, ETA on EOD?"_ Mac knew there was no way to disarm the mines but having an extra set of hands to clear a wider path and the proper markers to mark the path would make getting Opie out of the field easier he thought, ducking as another volley of rounds flew over head. "If We don't get shot first." He mumbled continuing to probe the ground.

 _"EOD is twenty mikes out, can you hold out that long?"_ Marconi asked.

Mac had finally made it to a position where he could get a look at Opie's legs. _"Sir, I'm going to start working my way back with Private Andrews, let me know when EOD gets here."_

 _"I copy Mac, keep your head down. Out."_ Marconi ended the transmission.

Opie had heard the one sided conversation, "Mac? How's it look?"

Mac sighed, "Well, good news is everything is still here."

"But?" Opie asked.

"But, it looks like both of your legs are broken and I think the left one is a compound fracture by the looks of it." Mac answered truthfully. "Look, I can try to drag you out of here without doing anything to your legs, which will hurt like hell and because the bone is exposed, chances of infection are high and you might lose your leg anyway. Or If you think you can wait, I can try to find something to stabilize the worst break and then drag you out of here. Either way, we should go." Mac stated the options, mentally calculating what type of materials were available in their current situation.

Opie dropped his head and spoke into the dirt. "I don't know man, I don't see a lot of things around here you could use, unless you can make a cast out of dirt."

Mac let a small laugh escape, "Actually I probably could but since that's the exact thing we're trying to avoid, that would _not_ be my first choice." Mac had probed a good three foot wide path around Opie and had returned to his right side. "Stay here, I'll be right back."

"Where are you going?" Opie watched as Mac moved away from him towards Maxwell.

"You have a collapsible stock on your rifle?" Mac asked as he reached Maxwell, unclipping the strap that was attached to his rifle.

Opie's brow crinkled, "Yeah, why?"

Mac carefully lifted the rifle away from Maxwell's body, pushing the clip release and ejecting the chambered round. "Well," Mac grunted as he pushed himself backwards careful to stay in the path he'd cleared. "I can use the rifles as a splint and with the collapsible stocks, It might hold just enough traction to keep the bones from moving around too much. There is a catch though."

Opie was still trying to wrap his head around the concept as Mac pushed himself backwards, coming along side of him. "What's the catch?" Opie asked, not able to look Mac in the eye.

Mac sighed, and looked away briefly before locking gazes with the young private. "Well, in order to keep traction, I need to secure the rifles to your legs pretty tight. Once I do that, we have about twenty minutes to get back to the road before your circulation is cut off, which increases the risk of permanent damage."

Opie's breathing increased as he looked at Mac, "What if we just stay here and wait for EOD and a medivac?"

Mac shook his head. "Look Opie, I know you're scared," Mac let a small huff escape his lips. "I'm scared too, but even if the rest of the EOD team gets here, we can't disarm this type of mine." He cocked his head to the side, "Normally, we'd just set some C-4 and blow them in place but that's not an option here, and like I told Captain Marconi, the rotor wash alone could set the mines off." Both men ducked as the familiar whip crack of enemy rounds passed overhead.

Mac raised his head, "And add to the fact that eventually those guys are going to find something other than bullets to fire at us, I'd kind of like to get out of here." Seeing Opie was still contemplating what to do, Mac sighed and placed a hand on the PFC's shoulder, "Opie, if we can't make it in twenty minutes, we'll find some cover and I can loosen the straps ok?"

Opie swallowed, blinking back the tears that threatened to fall, "Ok, Mac, let's give it a shot."

Mac smiled, "Alright, clear your weapon and undo the strap, I'm going to need both."

0-0-0

The wind had kicked up, swirling between the maze of mud brick buildings and narrow alley walls. A dog barking in the distance was the only sign of life in the immediate area. Jack felt the sweat roll down his back as he sat crouched against the wall, just prior to yet another intersection.

He looked at the two men crouched behind him and nodded, signaling silently with his left hand, he pointed to himself and signaled left, then held up two fingers and pointed up then right, and toward the adjacent alley thirty feet away.

Box and Coop nodded their acknowledgement, bringing their rifles up in anticipation of Jack's move.

Jack sat up straighter, balancing on the balls of his feet, he raised his rifle and shoved off the wall, sweeping his rifle covering the left, alternating from high to low as he ran, watching for any sign of movement and ready to respond if they came under attack. Boxer ten feet behind, covering the rooftops toward their destination, followed by Coop who was covering the right did much the same. A split second to determine if a spot was clear before aiming at the next, until they reached their destination.

They had been moving through the village, trying to navigate their way toward the sounds of gunfire, pausing every time they came to an intersection. Some of the alley ways were a mere shoulder width wide, while others like the one they'd just run from were wide enough to drive a truck through.

The photo's they had been provided weren't clear enough to be able to navigate the maze, there were too many shadows. So, they kept moving, hoping they'd get to the area where most of the firing was coming from before anyone else got killed, namely one stubborn EOD tech. He was the main reason they were going on this crazy where's the Taliban snipe hunt after all.

When they made it across the intersection, Coop kept his rifle trained on the path they'd just come from, watching for any movement while Boxer and Jack covered their front.

Jack nodded at Box as he started to move forward, Boxer tapped Coop on the back, and quickly followed Jack, Coop back pedaling still covering the rear.

They were coming up on a 'T' intersection between buildings, Jack slowed, side stepping as he came closer to the corner, light pressure on the trigger as the barrel of an AK47 came into view. "Contact front!" He yelled as he jumped sideways away from the corner towards the opposite wall and opened fire, moving around the opening to provide suppressing fire while Boxer ran towards the corner and threw a grenade left handed down the alley, "frag out!" He yelled, giving Jack and Coop a chance to duck as the grenade exploded.

As soon as the grenade had detonated, Jack, followed by Box and Coop ran through the dust cloud and debris. The explosion would definitely draw attention and the sooner they vacated the area and found cover, the better.

Jack slowed as they came to yet another intersection, his ears were still ringing and the annoying muffled sounds were back as he paused, and kneeled. Jack stuck his head around the corner and quickly pulled it back seeing men running across an alley that intersected the one they were currently planning on turning into.

 _This was a bad frickin idea Wyatt, God damned maze we have no fucking clue how to navigate, probably been going in a damn circle this entire time, can't hear shit wearing a fucking t-shirt. It'd serve me right if I get killed._ He thought as he turned to Box and motioned him forward. "I can't hear shit man, you got point, got guys moving down at the end there." He whispered, taking extra care to make sure it was an actual whisper this time.

Box nodded as he shouldered past Jack.

Jack turned making eye contact with Coop, and used two fingers to mimic running legs, pointing behind Coop to let him know they were probably going to get flanked.

Coop nodded, and moved to the opposite wall across from Jack and Box, aiming back the way they'd come, covering their six.

Just as Box started to move forward, despite his limited hearing, Jack heard Coop yell, "Contact rear! as the big man started firing.

Jack turned and covered Coop, firing a series of three round bursts giving Coop a chance to retreat while firing. Behind him he heard Boxer firing, knowing his fellow Texan had engaged the enemy to their front.

Jack ejected the spent clip "Changing!" he yelled, as he inserted a new one and resumed firing, Coop doing the same a few seconds later.

The enemy had them boxed in, sticking nothing but their rifles around the corner and firing blindly.

Jack hugged the wall, watching as the rounds were taking chunks out of the wall across from him, sending dust and small bits of building flying. Pulling one of the 203 grenades out of the pack, he held it up, "Coop!"

Coop looked at Jack and saw the round and nodded. Jack slid the tube open on the underside of the rifle and inserted the round, "Box, 203!" He yelled letting the operator know there was about to be something other than small arms fire behind him.

Coop fired on full auto as he moved across the alley to sandwich himself between Jack and Boxer, against the wall.

Jack aimed down the alley and fired the round, feeling, rather than hearing the thawhump of the round as it left the tube, he turned his back and ducked, throwing an arm over Coop as Coop did the same to Box.

The round exploded against the wall across from where the enemy had been firing from, Coop ran back across the alley, getting a better angle on the blast site while Jack loaded another round, quickly turning and firing over Boxer's head down the other alley to the front, not really aiming but using the superior fire power to either incapacitate the enemy or stun them. Either way, they needed a second to regroup and concentrate their fire.

As soon as he had pulled the trigger, Jack and Box had pressed their backs against the wall, Jack already opening the receiver to load another round when the explosion occurred. He quickly loaded the next round as the gunfire continued from their front. "Dammit! Where?" He yelled as more bullets chipped away at the walls, peppering the men with small bits of debris.

"Got two of those fuckers down there, left side!" Box yelled as he stuck his rifle around the corner and emptied the clip.

The 'T' at the end of the alley was acting as a buffer, the enemy was moving away from the corner using the walls and alley as cover, taking turns moving to the corner and firing entire clips before stepping back for the next guy to step up and fire. Jack stood up leaning over Boxer's head, taking an extra second to aim down the alley, if he could skim the corner and hit the opposite wall, it ought to take them out.

As he did, Jack saw a familiar shape poke around the corner. On target or not, he immediately pulled the trigger. The thawhump of the 203 was drowned out by the whoosh fizz of enemy's weapon.

Jack grabbed Boxer by the shoulder, pulling him over as he yelled, "RPG!"

Coop dove toward Jack and Boxer as the rocket propelled grenade exploded a millisecond after Jack's 203 round.

The concussion of the blast hit the men full force, shaking the walls sending the fine dust and chunks of dirt building outward in the confined space.

Boxer was the first to recover, trying and failing to bring his weapon up, his right arm hanging limply at his side. A quick glance at the appendage revealed no open wounds. Satisfied he wasn't missing a limb, Box left his rifle hanging and pulled his pistol from the chest holster, aiming down the alley left handed, waiting for the enemy to emerge. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye behind him, "Talk to me!"

Coop was pulling himself across the alley toward Jack, using his elbows and left leg to propel himself forward. "Agh! Fuck! Think my leg's busted!" He yelled, partly from the pain, partly because his ears were ringing. "Boss is out." The big man grunted, cradling his rifle in the crooks of his elbows as he moved toward the unconscious team leader.

The enemy wasn't firing at them from where Jack's round had exploded, giving Boxer a chance to look back at his companions. "How's he doing?"

Coop, finally over the shock of almost getting blown up, pushed himself up to his hands and knees and crawled to the wall, dragging his right leg, "I don't know yet, hang on!" He reached Jack, spinning to put his back against the wall finally coming to a rest, sitting next to the team leader.

Jack was slumped over on his side like a marionette that had had it's strings cut, the weight of his head pulling his chin down, partially obstructing his airway as he emitted snoring respirations. Coop leaned over and pulled Jack into a sitting position next to him, opening his airway as Jack's head fell back against the big man's shoulder.

"Jack! Come on buddy time to wake up, bad guys are comin!" Coop spoke into Jack's ear.

Jack's arms started to flail, instinctively searching for his weapon before his eyes flew open, Coop held on, waiting for Jack to get his bearings, and keeping him from trying to get up.

"He's comin around, you good?" Coop asked Box, keeping his hold on Jack, while taking a look at his own leg.

Boxer kept his eyes on the alley. "Yeah, got tagged by a chunk of wall I think. Arm's numb, ain't workin at the moment."

Jack groaned, blinking, staring back at Coop. "Lemme go man, You guys ok? Sit rep." He asked automatically picking up his rifle inspecting it for damage.

Coop satisfied Jack could keep himself upright reached for his leg. "Leg's busted, and Box's arm is numb, bad guys haven't been shooting at us, think you got em boss..." Coop cringed as he pushed his back against the wall to use as leverage to stand up. He gingerly tested his leg. "...but we gotta move." He finished through grit teeth.

Jack groaned as he pushed himself off the ground, "How bad's the leg?" Jack pinched his nose and flexed his jaw, trying to stop the ringing in his ears and the ground from tilting or keep himself from tilting, he couldn't tell which at the moment.

Coop took a few tentative steps. "Fibula I think. I can make it, ain't gonna be doing a forty yard dash or anything any time soon though."

Jack nodded, pushing past Coop to stand behind Boxer. "How's the arm man, can you still shoot?"

Box nodded, "Yeah, can't lift it though, think something popped in my shoulder but don't worry about it," He looked at Jack, holding the pistol up. "Even one handed, I can still outshoot _you_ hoss."

The corner of Jack's mouth turned up, some of the dizziness dissipating. "In your dreams buddy," Jack thumbed over his shoulder, "You take the rear, I'm on point, Coop stay on me, let me know if you need a break." He said, starting to move forward.

Coop grabbed him by the shoulder, "You alright? How's the head?" The concern was evident on the big mans face.

Jack sighed, "Got my chickens scattered pretty good, everything sounds like I'm under water and my fucking head hurts," Jack waved his arm, "I'm sick of fucking explosions and I want to get the fuck out of here. So, the sooner we go kill the bad guys, the sooner Mac can get out of that damn mine field."

Coop raised an eyebrow and cocked his head to the side. "We could scrub the whole thing and head back the way we came in."

Jack knew that was the correct thing to do, considering their physical state and the fact they still didn't know the enemy strength. But, until someone could either pinpoint the enemy positions for the aircraft, or take them out, Mac and everyone else on the mission were still in harms way and still taking fire from the muffled sounds of it.

"I know Coop, and normally I'd say let's GTFO dude but our boy is out there in a freaking mine field, working his ass off, getting shot at. Least we could do is help him out a bit." Jack shook his head pinching the bridge of his nose again. "So I can kill him later."

"Coop smiled, I'm with ya boss, just wanted to make sure we were on the same page is all." Coop jutted his chin and raised his rifle toward their next destination. "I'm ready when you are."

Jack winked at Coop, nodded at Boxer and the worse for wear trio started down the alley towards the next obstacle.

To be continued...

Hope you enjoyed. We've been pretty busy today, but I did get a chance to put this together. It's actually two chapters stuffed into one. I didn't like where the first one ended so this one's a long one. The next chapter is the last of what I've got written, still have to catch up with myself. Might be a few days before the next update but it's coming, I promise.

-Gib-


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Thanks as always to Dlwells51, you're awesome. I was going to wait until I went back to work to post this. Editing on an iPad is a pain. Dl's latest oneshot, _Brick Walls_ was the kick in the pants I needed. So you can thank her for this. ;-) All mistakes are my own, Dlwells51 hasn't seen most of this, so there's bound to be mistakes, see any, let me know.

Warnings: Violence

Disclaimer: Don't own them, love playing with them though.

Mac had just finished fashioning the makeshift splint using the two rifles and the straps to secure the contraption when he heard the muffled explosions inside the walls of the village. "Sounds like Jack and the guys have made it into the village."

Opie looked back at Mac, "Those the guys you came in with?"

Mac crawled forward, coming alongside Opie, concentrating on tightening the straps on the PFC's vest, not really putting too much thought into what he was saying. "Yeah, hopefully they can get the guys that are shooting at us, then all we have to do is avoid the mines, if they can't, well…" Mac finished his preparations, and pat Opie on the back. "They'll get the job done, always do."

He mentally kicked himself at the slightly panicked look he was getting from the young private.

Opie swallowed and wiped his face. "So, uh, you sure about this right Mac? I mean we could wait here until your guys take out the shooters and the rest of EOD shows up."

Mac belly crawled in front of Opie, flipped to his backside and wrapped a hand around the shoulder strap on the PFC's vest. "Yeah, we could but that last series of explosions wasn't all our ordinance, that big one was an RPG." Mac bent his knees, digging his heels into the dirt, and reached out with his free hand, he dug his elbow into the ground and looked at Opie. "You ready for this, it's gonna hurt so just yell if you need to, but whatever you do, don't sit up."

Opie nodded gritting his teeth in anticipation of the pain to come.

Mac took a deep breath and pulled the PFC forward.

Opie screamed and started to hyperventilate as Mac readjusted his feet and arm, repeating the process like a human inch worm.

With every push off and pull forward, they gained a little over two feet.

They'd moved forward about ten feet before Opie had calmed enough to try and help pull himself forward with his arms, the yells not quite as ear piercing as the first few moves.

Mac wiped his face on his shoulder, trying to keep the sweat out of his eyes, the customary bandana he wore under his helmet was soaked through. "You doing ok?" He asked between breaths.

"Yeah," Opie grunted, "What's the plan when we get to the berms? I could probably pull myself over."

Mac had been thinking that exact thing as they were coming to the first of the berms they had to cross. "Yeah, that would work best if you think you can get yourself over, just make sure you stay in the exact path I take." Mac heaved Opie forward grunting. "I couldn't clear a wide path coming into you guys so it's only a couple of feet wide."

Opie pushed forward as Mac pulled, "Yeah, got it. Stay on the path." He said breathlessly.

"Hold up." Mac ordered as they reached the base of the first berm. "I'm going to go over first, when I tell you, you come over ok?"

Opie nodded inching forward closing the gap between him and Mac. "Alright."

Mac, took a breath and scrambled over the berm, the high pitched whizz of the bullet hit his ears before it impacted the berm he'd just crossed. "Opie, stay there, don't move, I think a sniper just shot at us."

Mac keyed his radio, _"Tiger 1, this is Mac, how copy?_ "

 _"Tiger 1, good copy."_

 _"Sir, we're making our way out, I think a sniper just shot at us."_ Mac looked back towards the berm as another round struck the dirt. _"Strike that, a sniper is definitely shooting at us."_

 _"Tiger 1, sit tight Mac, we're trying to get a visual._ " Marconi reported.

0-0-0

Box gave a short clipped whistle getting Coops attention. The big man turned his head as they were approaching yet another ninety degree turn. "What?" He whispered.

Box tapped his earpiece, keeping is voice low. "That sniper we've been hearing is shooting at Mac."

Coop scowled, "Shit." he turned and tapped Jack on the shoulder, Jack stopped, and looked at him expectantly. "What's up?"

Coop dropped his rifle and let it hang by the chest strap. He mimed shooting a rifle and pointed in the direction they'd been hearing the crack of the rifle, "Sniper."

Jack's face was a mixture of recognition then panic. "He's shooting at us? I didn't hear anything."

Coop shook his head, "No," he mimed rocking a baby in his arms and pointed toward the direction of the field, "The sniper is shooting at Mac."

"Fucker's gotta be in one of those two story buildings." Coop posited.

Box had stepped up, craning his neck around Box to join the conversation, "I agree, figure if we get the high ground, we might be able to spot him, maybe even get a good angle on the backside of the wall those sons a bitches have been firing from all day."

Jack watched intently trying to make out the words while watching their body language. When Box had finished, Jack's reaction was exactly what Box and Coop knew it would be. Jaw set and determination in his eye, all he asked was. "Where?"

The rifle sounded again, to Box and Coop it sounded like a firecracker going off. Both men pointed in the direction of the sound. Jack spun and resumed his march through the maze of walls and buildings, quite a bit faster than either of the two operators were prepared for.

"We're in it now." Box said under his breath as he watched Jack disappear around the next corner.

"Shit!" Coop hobbled to catch up as they heard the staccato of gunfire.

By the time Coop and Box rounded the corner, two men lay dead and Jack was approaching the next corner, with a bit more caution much to Box and Coop's relief.

As they approached, Jack chanced a look around the corner and quickly pulled back, "Got two guys, got a door on the left. I'll hit the guys, Coop, think you can get that door open?"

Coop chanced his own quick look around the corner pulling back as bullets chipped away at the mud wall.

"Yeah, looks like it's freaking metal, hang on a sec." Coop looked over his shoulder as Jack stuck his rifle around the corner and fired blindly, trying to force the enemy fighters into staying put for the time being. "Box, grab two half bricks outa my pack and a couple of detonators."

Box holstered his pistol as he reached into Coop's pack, feeling for the requested items. "What's your plan there big boy?"

Coop shrugged, "Well, boss wants in that metal door, I'm gonna oblige him."

Box laughed and handed Coop the small bricks of plastic explosives and detonators. "You know you suck at Texan right?"

Jack fired another burst down the alley, ducking back quickly as more bullets chewed away at the wall.

Coop didn't answer as he finished molding the plastic explosives into ovals, inserted the detonators and tapped Jack on the shoulder. "Ready when you are!"

Jack loaded the 203 launcher and squatted down low. "Alright, as soon as this thing blows, we're moving. I'm gonna clear the corner, Box, cover Coop while he blows the door."

He didn't have to look back to see if the two men understood the plan. Breaching a door was something they'd practiced often, each man knew the other's job and they'd worked together long enough, they knew each other's moves.

Jack took a deep breath, leaned around the corner and fired the round. The three men instinctively ducked their heads.

When the round exploded, Jack stood up and ran down the alley, giving the door a cursory glance as he passed it, intent on getting to the corner and finishing off anyone that may have survived the blast before they could regroup and fire on him and his men.

Coop half ran, half hopped to the door. It was definitely built for security he thought as he slapped the charges against the metal, choosing to put one high and one low where hinges should be on the inside.

Jack rounded the corner, three men lay sprawled in the dirt. Not taking any chances, Jack fired a single round into each before quickly running back toward Coop and Box.

Each man had taken position on either side of the door, backs against the wall, Coop held up the small remote, he pressed the button, timing the detonation with Jack's arrival.

The smoke hadn't even cleared as Jack's well placed kick dislodged the weakened door. He ran into the room, sweeping left as Box quickly followed, pistol drawn, sweeping the right side of the room.

Coop followed covering straight ahead.

"Stair's right," Jack said from the hallway as he started up the stairs, stepping sideways, aiming above and behind their path of travel.

The move was repeated by the two trailing operators.

Jack reached the top of the stairs and stopped briefly, he had a good view of the hallway to the left from the stairwell, he leaned forward, taking a quick look down the hall to the right.

There was a door on each end of the hallway. Jack held up two fingers and motioned left then pointed to himself and motioned right as he stepped up into the hall, moving purposefully toward the objective, the butt of his rifle tight against his shoulder, cheek against the stock sighting down the barrel.

Box and Coop doing much the same as they moved silently down the hall to the left.

Jack reached the wooden door, quickly inspecting it for any sign of wiring or things that seemed out of place.

Satisfied the door wasn't going to set off an IED, Jack kicked it in, immediately following the swing of the door into the room.

As soon as he crossed the threshold, he spotted a figure to his right, without hesitation, he swung the rifle in the direction of the threat, already adding slight pressure to the trigger as the barrel of the AK was coming up to point at him.

Jack's rounds hit the man center mass, before the body hit the floor, Jack swung his rifle searching for another target, clearing the rest of the room in a matter of seconds. With no other visible threats present, he visually inspected the contents of the room. His limited hearing picking up the footsteps from the hallway, he didn't need to look to see who it was, there was no threat there.

Boxer walked into the room and whistled at the sight before him. "Well Wyatt, you got yourself quite the opium haul here brother."

Jack picked up a packaged brick of opium. "Must be a couple hundred pounds of the stuff here."

Box nodded his head toward the hallway, "That ain't the half of it, come on."

Jack followed Box out into the hallway, Coop was heading down the stairs, "Gonna cover the front door." The big man said, as he used the short wall as a support, hopping down the stairs two at a time.

As soon as Jack walked into the room that Box and Coop had cleared, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. "Call this in Box, get some pictures, and explain what we're looking at. Friendly village my ass. I'm gonna go see if I can't find a way up to the roof."

Box nodded, he holstered his pistol and pulled a small digital camera from his vest to document the scene.

"What's going on, where's the boss?" Coop asked from the doorway.

Box looked up expectantly. "Thought you were covering the front door."

Coop smiled. "I did, Figured why not give em a taste of their own medicine, anybody that comes through that door is in for one hell of a bang."

0-0-0

"How you doing Opie?" Mac called out, keeping his head down. They were still separated by the small berm but if either one of them chanced a move, based on where the rounds were hitting, Mac knew the sniper would have them in his sights.

"Scared shitless Mac, how long you think it takes that guy to reload?"

Mac knew what Opie was thinking, he'd already calculated the odds of success and no matter what variables he used, the answer was always the same. "Opie, you can't move man, that guy is dialed in and the only thing that's keeping us from getting hit right now is the low spots we're in."

Mac had been using the time they'd been pinned down to continue probing the soil around him, just in case he had to adjust his position if the sniper started hitting something other than the dirt berm. So far, he'd cleared a four foot wide path. "Hang on a sec Opie, I'll check with Captain Marconi and see if they've spotted that guy yet."

"Alright Mac, I'm not going anywhere." Mac could hear the fear in the PFC's voice and hoped the strain of being shot at wouldn't force Opie to try something rash.

 _"Tiger 1, this is Mac, how copy?"_

 _"Tiger 1, go ahead with your traffic."_

 _"Sir, we're uh still pinned down, any chance you've located that sniper yet?"_ Mac knew the chances of actually spotting the sniper from where Marconi and his men were in relation to where the possible sniper hides were in the village was a long shot, but there was always a chance.

 _"We're still looking Mac, so far we got squat. Spartan is still working their way in, they're aware of the situation, over."_

Mac was relieved to hear Jack, Box and Coop were still alive. He'd heard several explosions followed by what could best be described as someone lighting off a string of firecrackers. But he hadn't heard any radio communications from his friends. _"Must be using the secondary tactical channel._ " He thought and switched his radio over, listening for anything his friends may have been calling for.

He was disappointed to hear nothing but silence. It was in that moment, Mac realized just how alone he really was. It was almost unheard of for him to be on his own for this long while on a mission. Usually he was with Jack and if that wasn't possible, Jack always made sure one of the guys were never far away. Of course, he had been the one to tell them not to come with him. He thought. It was an irrational thing he knew but he wished Jack was right beside him at the moment.

In his current situation, Mac had had ample time to calculate all manner of things, one of which was the distance from his current position to the snap of the gunfire he'd been hearing from the village.

He recalled a conversation he'd had with Jack late one night when neither one of them could sleep. Mac knew the physics involved and had first hand experience of getting shot at but Jack had a way of describing things that Mac found somewhat entertaining… Most of the time.

The way Jack had explained the sounds gunfire and bullets made was simple. _"If it makes a whiz zip sound, it's close enough to part your hair. Snap crack, means the shooter's close. You hear somethin like firecrackers poppin, duck because the son of a bitch is a ways away and there's no tellin where the rounds are goin. And if you don't hear anything… Just wait, snap crackle and pop are a comin' with their cousins whiz and zip not far behind."_

Mac shook his head, _it's not doing any body any good sitting here feeling sorry for yourself, get it together Mac_. He thought. "Opie, Marconi hasn't located the shooter yet but he said Jack and his guys are in the village searching, ok." Mac shared, trying to keep the private calm.

The sniper had other ideas as another round impacted the dirt not three feet from Mac's shoulder.

Mac said a silent prayer to the farmer that had plowed the field years ago, not knowing the dirt berms he had built to hold water and protect his crops from the wind, would later be used as protection from something entirely man made.

"Hey Mac?" Opie called from the other side of the berm.

"Yeah?" Mac replied, expanding his small area of the field, probing inch by inch, intent on turning around to face the berm, if for nothing else but to get closer to the only other person within speaking distance.

"How much longer do you think we're going to be stuck here, my leg is really starting to hurt and I'm starting to get a little dizzy." The fear in Opie's voice was evident.

"I don't know Opie, I changed channels but I haven't heard anything from Jack yet. I'm sure they're doing their best to get rid of that sniper." Mac dropped his head to the dirt, he knew Jack Box and Coop if they were able, wouldn't stop until they completed their mission but so far, the sniper and the rest of his friends had kept firing. That was a sure sign that Jack hadn't been able to get into the village far enough or something had happened to keep them from moving.

Mac shook his head. It's not going to do anybody any good to think that way Mac. He berated himself.

"Hey Opie, I'll tell you something about the guys that have got our backs. Never and I mean never has Jack ever let me down. If he says he's going to do something, it gets done. It's just… It's just gonna take a while alright?" Mac said determinedly not only for Opie's sake but but for himself too. "Think you can hold out for a little while longer?"

Opie didn't answer. "Opie? Hey, come on man, talk to me!" Mac strained to hear even the slightest sound from the PFC.

Mac's pulse pounded, he had no way of knowing if Opie was still alive or had passed out. The only thing separating him from finding out was a four foot section of dirt. _"Might as well be the Sahara desert for all the good it's doing."_ He thought _._

Having cleared a decent sized oval around himself, Mac started to carefully spin himself around. he didn't know what he was going to do but having his head closer to the berm mean he was closer to Opie.

Mac had moved enough that he was parallel with the berm when the familiar whiz zip of the sniper round impacted the dirt.

At first, his brain couldn't process the reason why that particular round had made such a loud noise and had kicked up an unusual amount of dirt, sending a cloud of dust into the air.

After a few seconds, it was as if someone had pushed the reset button on his synapses. everything started to make sense, things were moving in fast forward.

The dust that had been kicked up by the mine gave Mac the chance to do what he'd been thinking about doing as soon as Opie had stopped talking.

Mac started to scramble forward only to fall flat on his face as his left arm gave out. The pain that hit him was blinding at first. He vaguely heard someone scream and thought it was Opie relieved the PFC was still alive, until he realized the scream had come from him.

His ears were ringing as he looked up, the dust cloud he had intended on using as cover had all but dissipated in the breeze. He'd missed his chance.

Mac dropped his head, he'd failed and Opie was probably dead because of it.

Mac chanced a look at his arm, and watched as his left hand flexed on command. When he tried to move his forearm, it felt like someone had shoved a red hot rod through the top of his shoulder all the way through his elbow wrist and hand coming out his pinky and ring finger.

The natural instinct to draw the limb close only added to the sensation.

Mac sat perfectly still until the sensation reduced to a dull throb. His analytical mind knew whatever had hit him was close to a nerve. The only way he was going to be able to function no matter how hard he tried was to remove whatever it was.

Not being able to prop himself up on his left in order to use his right to probe the back of his shoulder, was going to be a problem. The only option was to roll onto his side but that would mean a small portion of his body would be exposed.

Either way, he needed to do something.

To be continued...

A/N: Hope you enjoyed, and yeah, it's a bit of a cliffie, sorry about that. This chapter was originally almost 7k words but FF won't let me save a doc that big and this was the only spot I felt like was a good chapter break. So, the next chapter will be up tomorrow morning. Have a great day!

-Gib-


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Thank you to all who have reviewed, favorited and followed. As always, thanks to Dlwells51 She told me there were a few typos in this, so, I've been playing the virtual "where's Waldo trying to find them. ;-) And a lot has changed since she saw it last, cuz that's how I roll. Going full tilt whump with this one, enjoy!

Warnings: violence but if you haven't figured that out by now...

Disclaimer: Don't own em, totally bummed.

Glossary:

CAS: Close Air Support

0-0-0

Jack had found the small wooden ladder in what could best be described as a closet in the opium room. The closet and opening at the top was barely wide enough for one person to fit through in order to access the roof.

The situation was less than ideal. If he attempted to climb the ladder, all anybody on the roof had to do was stick their weapon in the hole and open fire. There was no way they could miss.

Jack backed out of the room and headed back down the hall to the room Box was in, when he rounded the corner, he stopped in his tracks. "What the hell are you guys doing with those things?"

Coop shrugged, holding out one of the suicide vests that was impregnated with sheets of nails and ball bearings. "We figured since these guys went to all the trouble to make em, we might as well use em in case the owners come to collect." Coop hefted the weight. "I got these things strung all over the place downstairs, don't worry they're rendered safe as long as we're the ones to push the button." He nodded toward Boxer who held up the remote they used to set off their own detonators.

Coop smiled and shouldered past Jack, limping through the doorway, "Hold up Coop, before you go riggin this whole damn place, and bringin it down on our head's, I found the roof access. It's less than ideal, so I'm thinking we try a different building."

Coop looked down at his leg then at Box who had fashioned a makeshift sling, using the velcro straps on his vest to hold his right hand in place. "Look boss, I'm all for taking the hard way, you know that, but, we got a pretty good set-up here and if I'm being totally honest... I don't think we're really in any shape to go running through the town."

Jack's lips pursed, knowing Coop had a good point. He turned to his second in command. "Box?"

Boxer sighed, dropping his head gathering his thoughts. Seeming to have worked things out, he straightened, looking Jack in the eye. "Coop's right Wyatt, we're combat ineffective on the run, I say we hunker down here and see what we can see. Call in air support if we can get approval."

Jack weighed both men's words against his own thoughts, he knew their current situation was less than ideal but the alternative was worse. "And if we can't get any air support?" He asked playing devil's advocate.

Box smiled a half smile. "Well, then I guess we might as well make ourselves at home and pick off any son of a bitch that comes a knockin."

Jack scrubbed a dirt covered hand over his face. "Alright, I'm gonna need…" Jack stopped mid sentence as he thought he'd heard Mac's voice. He looked nervously at his companions. Ever since the first RPG exploded near him, his hearing had gone from being non existent to making everything sound like he was in a tunnel and underwater all at the same time, it was annoying to say the least. Now he was hearing Mac's voice? Jack knew full well that there was no way the EOD tech was in the room.

Much to his relief, Boxer answered the transmission. _"Mac, Go for Spartan."_

 _"Spartan, I'm in a bit of a pickle at the moment, any chance you guys can take care of the guy that's been doing most of the shooting. Over."_

Jack could barely make out the words but that didn't matter. It wasn't so much what Mac had to say, it was how he said it. Jack sidestepped up to Coop and pulled the big man's ear piece out, sticking it in his left ear. "Tell him to say something."

 _"Mac, Spartan actual misses your voice, give me a five count._ " Box transmitted, eyebrows raised at their team leader's antics and Coop's obvious discomfort at the invasion of his personal space.

Jack was standing on his tip toes, holding Coop's ear piece in his left ear, while the big man looked down at the top of Jack's helmeted head, shifting his questioning look toward Boxer who simply shrugged in a "what are you gonna do gesture."

 _"One, two, threeeee, ahh, four,_ " They heard Mac gasp, _"five!_ "

Jack pushed Coop's shoulder, turning the big man to the side, and reached up to his back, disconnecting Coop's ear piece from the radio. He turned his own back to Coop. "Coop, hook me up, I can hear halfway decent outa my left. We're swappin coms.

Jack nodded at Box, "Tell him to hang on a sec."

Boxer did as ordered, the concern was evident on all their faces. They'd heard the strain in Mac's voice and knew the kid was in trouble.

Having finished connecting the ear piece to Jack's radio, Coop tapped Jack on top of the helmet. "You're good to go."

Jack didn't waste any time with formalities as Coop walked over to Box, Jack's ear piece, now his own, hanging loosely in his hand.

 _"Mac, what's going on, where are you, give me a sit rep!"_ Jack rapid fired.

Box was helping Coop connect the right side ear piece threading it through Coops vest and plugging the cord into the radio, patting the big man on the back. "All set brother."

As soon as Jack had transmitted to Mac, he looked at Box. "Box, switch to primary and get a hold of Marconi, ask him what the fuck's going on."

Mac's voice still sounded a bit muffled but Jack could hear him, _"Jack, I really need you guys to take care of that sniper. He's been taking pot shots at us and I really need to move."_

"Come on Coop, I'm gonna need a hand gettin up on that roof." Jack didn't wait for the big man to acknowledge as he practically sprint down the hallway to the room with the ladder.

 _"Who's we Mac, where are you?"_ Jack paused just outside the door, stopping in order to hear what Mac was saying.

 _"I'm still in the field, a little farther in than when you last saw me. I got one of Kirkland's men with me, but we got separated and I can't get to him. Not until that sniper stops shooting at us, and I've uh been hit. Nothing that's going to kill me but I can't tell how bad until the shooting stops."_

Jack had the mental image of Mac telling him to go back as he watched the young EOD tech belly crawl across the hard packed dirt, he felt the heat in his face as his pulse quickened, and watched as Coop hobbled down the hall toward him. "I never should have left him, no matter what!" He said, the sudden urge to hit something almost overwhelming.

Coop's concerned look was all it took to set Jack off. He mule kicked the wall, "God dammit!" He yelled, shoving himself off the wall, taking a few deep breaths as he paced like a caged animal in the hallway.

Coop stopped next to Jack, arms spread wide, but with no intention of trying to comfort the obviously on edge team leader. It wouldn't take much to send Jack on a suicidal seek and destroy mission, one where there were no friend's or foe's.

Coop let his rifle hang, holding his hands out to his sides. "Boss, it ain't going to do him any good if he hears you losing your shit. So... And I mean this in the most respectable way, but stop this bullshit, and stop second guessing yourself, get your fucking head on straight." Jack's head snapped up, fixing Coop with a laser stare, and resumed his pacing.

Coop raised his arm pointing in the direction of the field, "If you stayed out there, the situation would still be the same, except me an Box would be alone in this shithole and probably be dead at this point."

It was as if someone had thrown a switch. Jack stopped his pacing, inhaling a lung full of air through his nose and letting it out slowly. When Jack looked up, Coop knew he'd gotten through to the team leader. The worry lines were gone, replaced by a mask of confidence and pure determination.

Coop, set his jaw, rolling his neck with an audible crack. "So, what's the plan?"

Jack keyed his radio. _"Mac, Spartan actual, sit tight, we're getting in position, I'll tell you when we've eliminated the threat, how copy, over?"_

Mac paused, the concern he'd heard in Jack's earlier transmission was gone, replaced by the no nonsense, straight to the point Delta operator, which, Mac thought, was exactly what he needed right now. _"Good copy, standing by, out."_

Coop heard the unspoken "but hurry," in Mac's voice but his pep talk seemed to have benefitted both of his friends.

"Alright, Coop," Jack started to walk through the door, Coop trailing behind.

"There's a lad…" Jack never got the chance to finish as the impact of the bullets hit him full force. Pain exploded in his chest as he felt himself falling backwards. He was vaguely aware of Coop jumping over the top of him, rifle firing on full auto. He tried to bring his rifle up, as his brain told him he needed to get up provide cover for Coop.

The next thing he was aware of, was Box was standing over the top of him pulling at his vest. "Wyatt! Come on buddy, stick with me here."

Jack squeezed his eyes shut as the dull pain in his chest turned sharp when he tried to take a deep breath, fighting off the hand that was grabbing him. As his vision cleared, he saw Coop standing near the closet, rifle pointed toward the ceiling.

Jack rolled to his side, taking short measured breaths, Box tried to stop him, but Jack shoved the hand away. "I'm good," he groaned, stopping to catch his breath as he came to his hands and knees.

Box leaned over placing his good hand on Jack's back. "Talk to me brother."

Jack turned his head to the side and squinted at Box. "Took a couple... In the vest," Jack grunted as he sat up, resting his hands on his thighs, still trying to get his breath back. "Didn't even see... The son of a bitch, musta been... Just waitin for some dumb... S.O.B. to come waltzing through... The damn door. Jack leaned forward, planting a hand on the floor, cradling his chest with the other.

"Come on Wyatt, shake that shit off, we got work to do brother." Box said as he knelt next to hi friend, looking for any obvious signs of bleeding.

Jack sat back on his haunches and held his hand out, Box stood up and pulled him up from the dust covered floor.

Jack bent over hands on his knees, waving a hand. "Give me... a sec." he said breathlessly.

The crushing pain in his chest had started to dissipate, he closed his eyes, mentally evaluating what he was feeling, creating a mental picture of the structures and organs involved where he hurt the most.

The worst of the pain was on his left side, the ribs he'd cracked after the fight with Briggs had healed, but this felt like he'd broken them again. "How many times you suppose a rib can't get broke before it doesn't heal?" He asked as he tucked his elbow against his ribs, still trying to catch his breath.

The familiar sharp pain was accompanied by a burning sensation. "Think one of those rounds got through Box, god damned ribs are on fire."

Box tried to shove Jack's arm away from his side. "Lemme look, dammit."

"Just give me a damn second Box, nothin vital got hit man, I'm ok." Jack waved his second in command off.

"What's going on over there? Talk to me Box." Coop asked from the other side of the room, not taking his eyes off the roof access.

Box waved his good hand in the air frustrated. "Well, so far he says his ribs hurt and he's ok, wants to take a minute. So, typical Wyatt bullshit!"

Box's mini tirade eased some of the tension in the big man's shoulders. "Copy that, so not gonna die… Got it."

 _"Spartan, this is Mac, how copy over?"_ Mac's voice crackled through the radio. Jack remained bent over as he answered, _"Good copy, go."_

 _"Just… Haven't heard anything, thought maybe I missed your communication._ " The desperation in Mac's voice wasn't lost on Jack.

 _"Just sit tight Mac, we're uh, working a few kinks out."_ Jack straightened with a groan, attempting to stretch his back while cradling his left side. He looked sideways at Box. "Why is it when you get hit in the front, it makes the back hurt worse?"

Box wasn't in the mood for Jack's attempt at humor, as he was trying to get a good look at the team leader now that he was upright. "We need to get that vest off, lemme take a look at that side."

Jack waved him off, finally able to take a few breaths without wanting to curl into himself. "I'm good, it's good Box."

"Bullshit you are! You don't let me take a look Wyatt and I'm gonna have Coop come over here and sit on you while I stitch up every little cut and nick with the biggest needle I got in my kit." Box fixed his friend with a determined look.

Jack rolled his eyes and moved his left arm, starting to pull at the Velcro on the side of his vest. "Fine, but just undo the side, I ain't taking all this shit off just so you can tell me what I already know."

Box considered the limited access a small victory and pulled out his first aid kit. "Got some blood, hang on, pull your shirt up."

Jack pulled the side of his t-shirt up and held it so Box could get a look at his side. "How's it look?"

Box, knelt and looked up at Jack. "Got yourself a pretty good graze, looks deep." Box used his teeth to hold a gauze pad as he probed the wound, finally satisfied it wasn't a life threatening injury, he tore open the gauze and placed it over the wound. "Hold that."

"Ow, damn Box! I ain't a side of beef your brandin man, take it easy." Jack complained as he held the gauze.

Box looked up, his earlier concern replaced with an angry stare. "Look Jack, we all love the kid, but you have _got_ to stop going off half cocked every time he get's himself in trouble. You're gonna get yourself killed one of these days and if that happens, we're gonna be right there with you, you know that. But damn Jack you've pulled some crazy shit before the kid showed up. Now that he's here you're ridin the line between crazy and insane. Now, stop movin, this is hard enough with one hand."

Jack did as he was told, he knew he'd taken some risks, but if he didn't think it was worth it, then what was the point to all this, he thought. "Look Box, I know we're in a bit of a mess here, but the kid deserves a life after all this. I'm gonna make sure he gets one, even if it kills me, it'd be no different if it were you or Coop out there, you know that right?"

Box snorted, some of the tension leaving his body, "Yeah Wyatt, I know." He opened a pack of steri-strips with his teeth, silently cursing his useless appendage. "You need staples or stitches at the least but these strips will have to do for now, alright. Gonna be a helluva scar, got yourself another trophy to impress the chicks with bud."

Several minutes later, Box, satisfied with his one handed ministrations, helped Jack secure his vest. "Thanks Box."

Jack stepped toward Coop, "Alright Coop, you ready? I'm gonna go up that ladder and stop, just before the top, I need you to cover me as best you can alright?"

"Boss, you just got shot, I should be the one going up." The big man said, not taking his eyes off the roof access.

Boxer stepped forward. "Neither one of you should go, I should be the one."

Jack smiled painfully. "Look fellas, of the three of us, I'm the most mobile. Box, you can't climb and shoot with one hand, and Coop, that leg of yours is gonna slow you down. As soon as I'm up there, I'm gonna get outa that hole pretty damn fast." He paused to stick his head into the closet and look at the access hole. "In fact, that gives me an idea. Coop think you can give me a boost once I get to the top?"

Coop judged the distance understanding what it was Jack had in mind. "Yeah, I can do that."

Jack walked to the base of the ladder, rifle aimed at the hole. "Well alright then, let's get this show on the road. It's been good working with you boys."

He climbed to the top, keeping his head below the rim. "Alright Coop, on three."

Coop placed his large hands under Jack's boots and planted both feet. "Broken leg be damned." He thought.

Jack thought he'd prepared himself for Coop's helping hands, on two he'd let go of the ladder rungs to place both hands on his rifle, on three, he'd straightened his legs as Coop shoved. The force of Coop's shove sent Jack skyward. As he completely cleared the opening, he'd expected to get shot… again. When nothing happened, he scrambled out onto the roof, ribs flaring, he rolled trying to make himself as small of a target as possible.

In his roll, Jack had a clear view of the entire roof, and was relieved to find it empty. _"Thank god for small favors_ " he thought.

Box and Coop strained to hear what was going on up on the roof, Coop started up the ladder, Box waiting his turn. The complete silence would have normally been a good sign but the way their day had been going, nothing had come easy.

Much to their relief, Jack's head came into view. He called down to the pair, "Coast is clear. Come on up."

0-0-0

Mac had become accustomed to the shooting pains in his entire left arm and hand. He'd tried to push his right arm under himself to reach for his left shoulder but every time he moved, the sniper would take a pot shot at him.

As he lay there in the baking sun, he continued to call out to Opie, hoping the private had simply passed out from the pain and would somehow come around. Mac suddenly had the terrifying thought that if Opie did wake up, the chances of him being aware of his surrounding and knowing not to sit up or move were slim to none.

Mac started thinking about ways he could maneuver in the mine field to get to Opie, everything from slowly digging a furrow in the berm, to the more drastic, 'jump up and take his chances'.

Suddenly he remembered the dust cloud that was produced when the last mine exploded. All he had to do was somehow detonate enough mines to create a dust smoke screen.

Mac reached out and picked up a dirt clod, estimating it's weight and calculating the height he'd need to throw it in order to have it land with enough force to set off a mine.

 _"Mac, Spartan, how copy?"_

Mac dropped the dirt clod and scrambled to answer his radio. _"Ja… I mean Spartan, good copy over."_

 _"Mac, we're in position, the next time that s.o.b. fires, we ought to have a good idea of where it's coming from, won't be long now, sit tight._ "

Mac knew the only time the sniper had been firing was when he was moving. _"Spartan, get ready, he'll fire in the next ten seconds."_

The trio had positioned themselves along the three foot tall parapet on the roof. Keeping as low a profile as possible, Coop and Box had their binoculars focused on the only other two buildings high enough to be able to shoot over the rest of the town and hit close to Mac's position.

Jack had decided to rely on his _Mark One_ eyeballs as he'd put it, so he could focus on the big picture just incase they were wrong.

"What the hell is he doing? Box asked not taking his eyes away from the objective.

Jack didn't even want to guess, opting to stay silent.

As each man silently counted backward from ten, getting to one, Mac lifted his head, quickly putting it back down as the familiar whiz zip of the bullet pierced the air.

As soon as the operators heard the pop of the sniper rifle, they knew they were looking in the wrong spot. "Son of a bitch is behind us."

Coop sat up to move across the roof to the other corner, as he did, two things happened a millisecond apart.

Coop's head snapped back and he crumpled, as the crack of the rifle report filled the air. "Fuck! Coop's down! Boxer yelled staying low, shuffling across the roof toward the big man.

"Where'd it come from Box?" Jack asked loading a 203 round.

"The two story eleven o'clock! There's two of those fuckers!"

Jack was lining up the shot when the whiz zip of a round flew by, almost instantly followed by the crack of a rifle report to his right. He fired the 203 at Boxer's building, not waiting to see if it hit before ducking back down loading another round. "There's three, and we're right smack in the middle!" Jack poked his head above the edge of the wall to get a bearing and distance on his next target.

Rolling to his back, resting his head and shoulders against the wall. He spared a quick glance at Box and Coop before popping up and firing, ducking as another round hit the wall where his head had been. "Son of a bitch is zeroed in on us. How's Coop?"

Coop started to stir and tried to sit up. Box planted his hand on the big man's chest. "Stay down Coop, don't move!" Box kept his hand on Coop's chest as he tried to pull his friend to safety, his boots losing traction on the dust and sand covered roof.

"Took one in the helmet, he's comin around." Box yelled.

Jack peeked over the wall again, trying to get a look at the damage his rounds had caused. It didn't take a genius to figure out his round had found it's mark on Box's building, but the round that ricochet off the wall and skimmed across the top of his right shoulder, was instant proof he'd missed with the second.

Jack dropped back down behind the wall and reached for his shoulder. "God dammit! Box keep your fucking head down, I'm calling for CAS. Friendly village my ass!" Jack pulled his hand away from the top of his shoulder, it came back bloody.

Box, had seen Jack's reaction and noticed the blood running down his arm. "How bad you hit?"

"Not bad, ricochet caught the top of my shoulder, no holes, just a graze."

Jack scrambled to Box and Coop, the sniper rounds ricocheting around them. They grabbed Coop by the vest and drug him to the edge of the building, taking cover behind the parapet.

Jack keyed his radio, _"Tiger 1, Tiger 1, Spartan how copy?_ " While he waited for a reply, Jack watched as Box slowly removed Coop's helmet to get a look at the big man's head.

 _"Tiger 1, good copy, go."_

 _"Tiger 1, we're in deep shit here, this village is not friendly, I repeat, not friendly! We have confirmed three, I repeat three snipers in the village. Get Blue 1 and 2 on station and have them blow the shit out of this place, if we get outa here, get cas evac in the air, for one possible critical, two surgical non critical, how copy over."_

 _"Spartan, Tiger 1 good copy. I'll have them contact you direct when they're on station, how copy over."_

 _"Tiger 1, Spartan, good copy out._ " Jack sat back, taking a moment to evaluate their situation.

He had been shot twice, had a furrow burned into his side and was pretty sure his ribs were cracked again, Box couldn't move his arm, it didn't look dislocated but whatever had hit him had screwed something up. Coop had a busted leg or fucked up ankle and had just got tagged in the noggin by a damn sniper round.

And to top it all off, he was out of 203 rounds and they still hadn't been able to stop the sniper or the small arms from shooting at Mac. Jack shook his head, "God dammit!" He yelled as he propped his rifle over the edge of the parapet and fired an entire clip. He knew it wouldn't do any good and more than likely didn't hit anything of importance but, it had felt good.

Having gotten the urge out of his system he sat behind the wall. The first word that came to his mind was SNAFU. Situation normal, all fucked up... Pretty much summed up the entire day. He thought.

Taking a breath, he keyed his mic. _"Mac, how you doing buddy?"_ Jack dispensed with the formalities, at this point if the Taliban didn't know they were there, they were either dead or deaf and he didn't give a shit if they could hear the radio transmissions.

0-0-0

Mac had heard the 203 rounds going off in the village and rolled to his side, grateful for the chance to finally get whatever it was that had hit his shoulder out so he could get to Opie, without his arm sending blinding pain to his brain.

As soon as he rolled to his side, he knew he'd made a mistake. The bullet that glanced off his hip and continued to burn a furrow down the outside of his left thigh sent a new wave of pain to his already taxed pain receptors.

Mac, not wanting to waste the opportunity, reached up with his right hand and quickly felt the object sticking out of his shoulder. Giving it a quick pull, dislodging the shrapnel, he rolled back over to his stomach just as another round zipped over his head.

He held the piece of shrapnel up, inspecting it. His mind couldn't process what he was seeing at first, until it finally dawned on him. It was the metal trigger mechanism for the mine.

Despite the pain, he started to calculate the odds of a mine blowing and leaving the trigger in tact, before he remembered he was unable to move his arm prior to removing the object.

Testing his left arm, the shooting pain was still there but it wasn't debilitating. He reached down to his thigh, pulling his hand back to inspect the color of the blood. Thankfully, it wasn't the bright red of an arterial bleed. Satisfied his wounds weren't life threatening, he lay flat and didn't move. There was no way he was going to be able to make it to Opie until Jack took care of the sniper.

Mac had completely relaxed his body, not wanting to dwell on his current situation, instead he closed his eyes and tried to relax, occupying his mind with organizing the periodic table, adjusting elements into materials that could be used as explosives.

He jumped at Jack's voice coming through the ear piece. _"Mac, how you doing buddy?"_

Mac reached for the transmit button. _"I've been better. I don't think I'm getting out of here any time soon."_

 _"I hear ya, listen bud, we gave it our best shot. I'm not sure what's gonna happen, but you will get out of there, you hear me?"_

 _"I hear you Jack."_ Mac knew Jack, Box and Coop were in trouble, by the sound of Jack's voice, whatever was going on wasn't good, if they couldn't complete the mission, they were either hurt so bad they couldn't move or the rest of the team was dead. Jack had never let him down before.

Mac shook off the thought, not wanting Jack to blame himself for whatever happened, he tried his best to emulate Jack's sense of humor in stressful situations. _"It's alright Jack, I've carved out a nice little spot here, just going to hang here for a while, enjoy the sun, work on my tan."_

Jack laughed, as he looked up, there wasn't a cloud in the powder blue sky, it reminded him of home, _"If we make it out of here, one of these days I'm takin that kid to the ranch."_ He thought.

Jack tried to take a deep breath, stopping short when the sharp pain in his side flared, quickly composing himself, wanting to say goodbye but unable to find the words, he pushed the transmit button. _"You do that brother, I'll be right there with you for as long as I can._ " Jack said, knowing that if he got authorization for close air support, he planned on turning the entire village into rubble, which, there was a good chance, would include the building they were currently occupying.

 _"Keep your head down Mac, we've got a helluva fireworks show comin, up, happy 4th kid."_

To be continued...

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this. It's going to be a few days before the next update, I've caught up with myself and have to write some more. Back to work on the 4th, expect a busy shift, so we'll see what happens. There's been quite a few people that wonder what I do for a living... 27 year veteran in the fire service, Engine Captain. Until next time, have a great week!

-Gib-


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Thank you for the reviews, follows and favorites. They make writing this stuff so much more fun. For the second time in my short writing career, I've not shared this with Dlwells51 prior to posting. It's really late where she's at and I wanted to get this posted before the craziness goes into overdrive, so every teensy mistake, and the big one's are all mine. Let me know if there's a few whoppers in this, it was a bit rushed.

Warnings: Violence

Disclaimer: I own nothing having to do with the tv show. I'm super excited they started filming season 2.

 **July 4th, Afghanistan**

Box pressed his thumb around the laceration on the side of Coop's head. "God dammit Box stop pushing on my head." The big man complained, still a bit groggy.

Box picked up the discarded helmet and inspected the side. "Kevlar stopped it mostly, you're damn lucky son." He held the helmet up so Coop could see the deformed material inside the helmet. "Got yourself a cut on the side of your head but…" He pulled a multi-tool from his vest, holding the helmet between his knees and pried the projectile from the Kevlar, holding it up in front of Coop's face. "At least the bullet's here and not in your brain pan, doesn't feel like you cracked your skull."

Jack, staying low, scrambling back to his two men after he'd tried and failed to fire a few rounds at the sniper that had kept them pinned down. He looked at Coop taking in his less than alert appearance, shifting his eyes to Box questioningly. "Well, what's the verdict?"

Coop slowly blinked attempting to clear his head, "I'll be good in a few boss, what's the plan, what'd I miss?"

Jack raised an eyebrow, ignoring Coop. "Box?"

"Concussion at least, the Kevlar stopped the bullet, has a head lac that'll need some stitches." Box nodded at Jack "What about you? You alright?"

Jack shrugged his shoulder to get a look at the source of the blood running down his arm in rivulets. "Just a graze, nothin to worry about right now, keep your ears peeled for Blue 1 and 2 to come up on our freq."

Jack pulled two smoke canisters from his vest, setting them next to the wall. "How many smokes you guys got?"

Box pulled two from his vest. "Got two reds." He leaned over, intent on helping Coop retrieve his own smoke canisters, only to have his hand slapped away, Jack doing the same on the other side, Coop glared at the team leader.

"Jeezus Christ you two are like a couple broody old hens, I can get my own shit out." Coop punctuated his complaint by yanking two smoke canisters out, holding them in front of each operator. "Happy?"

Jack grabbed the canisters, not in the mood to trade barbs with his teammate. "Extactic. Alright, Box, I'm gonna pop off a couple of these, when I do, I want you and Coop to beat feet down the ladder, get to some cover."

Coop, finally able to focus glared at Jack. "And while we're turning tail and running, Just what is it you plan on doing?"

Box nodded, "If there's going to be fireworks, we ain't missing it by hiding downstairs."

Jack jerked a thumb towards the far corner of the roof, "I'm gonna sit up here and walk the A10's in so they can blow the shit out of those two sniper hides and those dudes behind that wall." Jack set two smoke grenades to the side and started stuffing the rest in his vest, locking eyes with both of his men.

Coop reached out to grab one of the canisters, "That's bullshit Boss, we're in this together man."

Jack quickly snatched it away, locking eyes with his men, "You mistake me for someone who gives a shit, it ain't a request!"

Jack was tired and he hurt, he'd been literally knocked off his game since his encounter with the first RPG, failing to bring his noise cancelling ear plugs, failing to clear the opium room the second time he'd entered, all of which had nearly gotten him killed.

He needed to shut out all the concern, worry and anxiety he'd let get to him, and concentrate on getting his men _and_ Mac out of this fucked up day without any more injury. If his men didn't like it, he really didn't care at this point. He was in charge and they were still in the Army.

Box and Coop shared a look, Jack didn't pull rank often but when he did, they knew not to question his orders.

Relenting, Box pointed a sausage finger at Jack, "Alright Wyatt, you just keep your damn head down, and as soon as those birds are overhead, you'd better get your ass down that ladder, or so help me I'll come up here and..."

Jack didn't let him finish raising both eyebrows, pulling the pin on the smoke grenade and tossing it into the middle of the roof, immediately followed by the second. "Time to go ladies."

Box glared at Jack, grabbed Coop by the arm and started toward the open hatch, the cloud of red smoke swirled around the roof, giving the operators just enough cover to maneuver.

As soon as Box and Coop had disappeared into the smoke screen, Jack skirted along the wall to the corner. He needed to get a look at the surrounding area on that side of the building to orient himself and call in the air strikes.

Peeking his head over the edge, he heard the zing of a bullet pass behind him. The sniper he'd designated as Alpha was shooting blind and by the snap of the rifle report, hadn't changed positions. "That's good, stay right where you're at asshole." Jack mumbled, keying his radio, figuring the A10's should be close enough to hear his transmission.

"Blue 1, Spartan how copy."

 _"Spartan, Blue 1, good copy understand you've got some business for us, we have authorization for confirmed targets, ETA two mikes."_

 _"Blue 1, affirmative, have two buildings, confirmed snipers, designated Alpha and Bravo, how copy over."_

 _"Blue one good copy, understand two buildings, confirmed snipers, designated Alpha and Bravo. Blue 1, 30 seconds out, Blue 2 trailing."_

 _"Blue 1, Spartan give me a fly by, friendlies at red smoke."_ Jack pulled the pin on another smoke grenade and threw it to the middle of the roof.

 _"Blue 1 comin in from the west, Spartan, I got your smoke."_

Jack felt the roar of the A10 as the aircraft passed low overhead, banking left as it cleared the village.

 _"Blue 1, good approach, keep that line, designate target Alpha, the two story one eight zero meters east of the smoke how copy over._

 _"Spartan, Blue 1, good copy, designate target alpha, two story one eight zero meters east of the smoke, I've got your target."_

 _"Blue 1, Spartan, good copy break, Blue 2, Spartan how copy"_

 _"Spartan, Blue 2 good copy go ahead."_

 _"Blue 2, I want you to adjust right of Blue 1's track, designate target Bravo, two story, green roof, lots of antennas, south west of red smoke. How copy."_

 _"Blue 2, good copy adjust right, designate target Bravo, two story green roof, lots of antennas to south west of red smoke."_

As Blue 2 flew overhead, getting the lay of the land, he heard the pilot call out "RPG!"

Jack watched as the subsonic jet banked right, pulling out of the run, firing flares and chaff as he climbed.

Jack sat up, pulling his binoculars out of his vest, backtracking the trail of smoke the RPG had left in the sky.

He was so intent on trying to find the source of the enemy fire, he didn't hear Box come up behind him and jumped at the sudden contact of the operator's hand on his shoulder. "God dammit Box, you're supposed to be below!" He glanced over his shoulder.

Box ignored the outburst, "Hey, I just got off the horn with Marconi, he says the small arms have stopped, with the A10's overhead, wants to know if we want Tiger 2 in here with us, EOD is held up on the road, can't make their way to Mac until those shooters are taken out."

Jack turned back to the parapet, zeroing in on the general area of the RPG. "Tell him to send a small squad to the irrigation ditch at the road and wait for us."

Box nodded, understanding Jack had other things he was doing at the moment and moved off to the side to send the message.

Jack keyed his radio. _"Blue 2, Spartan, I've got the building that RPG came from, how copy over."_

 _"Blue 2, good copy go with the info, designate target Charlie, Alpha and Bravo are our priority, if we have anything left, we'll go for Charlie over."_

Jack appreciated the pilot's prioritizing his sniper targets ahead of the guy that had shot at the plane. _"Copy that Blue 2, target Charlie, single story, green roof, south east of Bravo, about two six zero meters, got a couple of trees directly to the east of it."_

 _"Spartan, Blue 2 good copy, keep your head down, we're loaded with Mavericks."_

Jack smiled, the Maverick - AGM65 air-to-ground tactical missile was extremely accurate and packed enough punch to get the job done without destroying half the village and his men in the process. _"Good to hear Blue 2, break, Blue 1, Blue 2, you're cleared hot, let it rain fellas."_

 _"Blue 1 copy, cleared hot, target Alpha."_

 _"Blue 2 good copy, cleared hot target Bravo."_

Jack sat back against the wall and looked at Box. "Things might just be lookin up Box, got a couple of fly boys that brought just the right toys, how's Coop?"

"Coop's hangin in, his balance is shit, can't tell if it's from getting tagged in the head, or the ankle but he's not gonna be moving too fast, repetitive questions, but his pupils are still reactive." Box said concerned as the crackle of the missile, and the roar of the plane filled the air.

Both men ducked, as the first missile detonated, followed closely by the second to the south west.

They poked their heads over the wall surveying the damage, what used to be two story buildings were now shrouded in a cloud of dust and smoke.

Jack keyed his radio, _"Blue 1, Blue 2, Spartan. Good hit Alpha, good hit Bravo."_

 _"Spartan, Blue 2, keep your head down, coming in for target Charlie, how copy."_

 _"Blue 2, Spartan, good copy, cleared hot, friendlies at red smoke."_ Jack reminded the pilots and threw a smoke canister toward Box, concentrating on watching the next target. "Pop that will ya." He heard the canister hit the ground and looked toward the operator.

Box looked at Jack and rolled his eyes holding up his good hand. "What the fuck you want me to do, pull the pin with my teeth, John Wayne style?"

Jack pulled another smoke canister from his vest, pulled the pin and threw it to the middle of the roof. He shrugged his shoulders and smiled mischievously. "Sorry dude, forgot about the arm, but hey, figured you're named after the guy, why not give it a shot… Marion."

Box picked up the smoke canister and put it in his vest. "Screw you Wyatt, and I swear, if you ever call me Marion around anybody that doesn't know… I'll tell your sister the real reason why Tommy Spencer didn't pick her up on prom night."

Jack smiled at Box and ducked, as the next Maverick missile exploded. "Hey, you call me by my middle name all the time, it's not my fault your grandparents wanted you to be named after The Duke." _"Blue 2 good hit, good hit."_ Jack transmitted to the pilot.

 _"Blue 2, good copy, confirmed good hit on Charlie, got anything else for us, we've got ten mikes before we're bingo fuel."_

 _"Blue 2, affirm, the wall to the west, had guys hiding behind that all day, could use a gun run."_

 _"Spartan, Blue 1, that's a negative on the gun run. Our authorization is limited to visual confirmed targets."_

Box peeked over the edge of the parapet gauging the distance to the wall that had been their intended target since they'd entered the village. "I put it at maybe 160 meters." He pointed toward the ground, able to see the maze of walls and smaller shacks. "If we stay to the right until we get to that little shack with the tin roof, looks like a straight shot after that."

Jack looked at his friend and keyed his radio. _"Tiger 2, Spartan actual, how copy."_

Sergeant Ellis's voice came through he ear piece, _"Tiger 2, good copy, go."_

 _"Tiger 2, start makin your way up the ditch, once you get to the wall, contact Spartan 5-2,"_ Jack used Boxer's official designator, _"he'll guide you in how copy?"_

 _"Tiger 2 good copy, five mikes and we're there."_

Jack got to his knees, as Box put a hand on his arm. "Just what the hell you think you're doing?"

Jack's eyes shifted from Box's hand to his friend's face. "I'm going to run down there, get confirmation and have the fly boys blow the shit outa that wall. You're going to stay here, direct Ellis and his boys in here and then you Coop along with Tiger 2 will make your way out." Jack said, slightly out of breath. He didn't want to admit it but his chest was starting to feel like he was breathing through cotton.

Box shook his head, "No fucking way you're going over there by yourself, I'm coming with."

Jack duck walked toward the roof hatch, ignoring Boxer as he moved. As he started to climb down the ladder, he looked up at Box. "Take care of Coop, and don't worry, I ain't gonna go in all guns a blazin. I plan on finding a nice little hiding spot and calling in the big guns."

Box watched as Jack hurried down the ladder. He scrambled to the edge of the roof, peering dangerously over the side, looking down at the front door. "God damned cowboy shit!"

0-0-0

As soon as Mac had heard Jack contact the A10's, he started to formulate a plan. He lightly tested his arm, finding that while it was uncomfortable, he could support his weight enough to maneuver.

The sniper hadn't shot at him for a few minutes but the small arms fire had continued, right up until the roar of the A10's filled the air.

Marconi's voice through the ear piece broke his train of thought. _"Mac, Tiger 1, how copy?"_

 _"This is Mac, go ahead."_

 _"EOD's on site, not gonna send them in until those snipers and small arms are taken care of, so just sit tight son, won't be long."_

Mac sighed and shook his head. He knew it wasn't the EOD's call not to come out, had to be Marconi's. He didn't blame the LT, or the EOD squad. Mac had put himself in this situation, he might as well be the one to get himself out of it. _"With a little help from Jack."_ he thought.

 _"Tiger 1, I copy, I'm working it out, tell EOD to sit tight."_

As soon as the first explosion went off in the village, Mac didn't waste the opportunity. He pushed himself up and scrambled over the berm, practically landing on Opie.

His shoulder protested the move and his leg burned but finding a weak pulse on the Private's neck was the best pain killer he could ask for at the moment.

Not wanting to waste anytime, when he'd heard Jack's transmission to Blue 2, He positioned himself on his left side, grabbing Opie's vest with his right hand and dug his feet into the dirt.

When the next explosion thundered from the village, he was ready.

Using all the strength he could muster, he pulled himself and Opie over the berm, and didn't stop, straining to gain as much distance as he could while the enemy was forced to take cover with the A10's were in the area.

Mac looked up toward the road, thankful that the rock Cairns he'd placed were still mostly intact.

As the third explosion in the village sounded, Mac lost his grip on Opie's vest, his right forearm burning and hand cramping, making the simple task of straightening his fingers difficult.

Mac kicked his legs over the top of Opie and rolled to the PFC's right side, quickly adjusting his legs trying to use the left as a sort of rudder while pushing off with his right and hanging on to the unconscious private with his left hand, causing his shoulder to burn.

Mac looked up, he'd gone a mere twenty feet and was in between berms. As the roar of the A10's faded, Mac could hear Jack's voice on the radio talking to the aircraft. Through the incessant pounding of his pulse in his ears, he understood the A10's were just about done.

He had been extremely relieved to hear Jack's voice on the radio after the explosions. From their last communication, Jack's words made it sound like he was saying good bye.

At the time, Mac had almost shut down, he didn't know what he would do and was seriously contemplating going over the berm to get to Opie regardless of the sniper and small arms fire. His justification was if he could get his end of the job done, Jack, Coop and Box could abort whatever it was they were doing and get to safety.

The only thing that had stopped him was Box's transmission to Marconi telling the LT that they were taking cover inside the building.

Mac pulled himself and Opie forward, inch by inch, muscles straining, left arm starting to go numb, he switched back to Opie's left side, changing back to a right handed grip. The mental image he had of himself made him laugh. The way he was moving through the field, if he were a swimmer, he'd be doing a one sided freestyle, or was it backstroke. "Probably be swimming in circles." He said to no one in particular, not expecting a response.

 _"What's that about swimming Mac?"_ Jack's voice crackled in his ear.

Mac stopped his forward movement, it had seemed like ages since he'd talked to Jack, and he was happy, albeit confused. Mac let go of Opie to answer, _"Jack, how did you… I wasn't transmitting."_

 _"Mac, you've been keying your radio off and on, it's getting a bit annoying to be honest. What're you doing, you sound like you're working out?"_

Mac looked down at the transmit button attached to the left front side of his vest then down at the way he was positioned and realized every time he pulled himself forward, he was pushing the transmit button. _"Sorry about that, I was accidentally hitting the button. Are you ok?"_

 _"Yeah, just peachy, gotta go, gonna take care of those guys behind the wall, won't be long Mac and you'll be outa there."_

Jack sounded like he was out of breath but Mac couldn't talk on the radio and pull Opie at the same time so he kept their communication short. _"Thanks Jack, I'm already moving but I'll take all the help I can get."_

Mac grabbed Opie's vest, continuing the painfully slow journey across the dirt field when the sound of bullets whizzing over his head started again.

Mac dropped his head, chest heaving, the smell of the dried soil and long rotted plant material invaded his senses. He looked up, the ground in front of him was higher than where he was currently at and by the small puffs of dirt, the bullets he could hear buzzing by were impacting the dirt not more than fifteen feet away.

"Opie, we can't go any further, we're just going to have to wait man." Mac said to his unconscious travel companion as he rolled onto his back trying to get as much air in his lungs as possible. _"Jack, whatever you're doing, if you could do it soon, that would be great, I'm pinned down again."_ Mac transmitted, too tired to go through the formality of military radio communications.

0-0-0

Jack had dealt with cracked and bruised ribs quite a few times in his life and had become somewhat accustomed to blocking out the pain, but the wound in his side had the added bonus of making it next to impossible to take a deep breath without the accompanying stabbing sensation and the urge to cough. The fact that his vest felt like it was rubbing his side raw only added to his discomfort. _"This is gonna epically suck!"_ He thought.

Before he'd left the building, Jack had checked in on Coop. The big man still had a glassy look in his eyes but was coherent enough to tell Jack how to avoid all the "surprises" he'd set up at the entrance to the building. Jack cautiously made his way down the stairs and let out a slow whistle when he saw what Coop had set up. "Damn dude, you weren't kidding. This is one helluva welcome mat." He said as he stepped into the alley.

Jack keyed his radio, _"Tiger 2, Spartan actual, when you reach the building, do not enter, I repeat do not enter. IED's are live, wait for my guys outside, how copy."_

 _"Tiger 2 copies, wait outside."_

Jack didn't waste any time as he jogged down the alley, watching for disturbances in the dirt, trying to stay in the worn path left over from who knows what, rifle shifting from side to side expecting the enemy to jump out from hiding at every nook and cranny and shoot him.

He'd made it to the shack with the tin roof and was making progress towards the enemy position. His mental clock ticking off the minutes he had left before the A10's would be out of fuel and had to leave, when he heard Mac's transmission.

The defeat in Mac's voice and the sound of the AK's firing urged him on, ignoring the increasing sensation of not being able to breathe, Jack came to the end of the alley and skidded to a stop.

Dropping to a knee, he peered around the corner. The enemy fighters had apparently taken a page out of a World War Two handbook.

Jack sat on his haunches, back against the wall, he leaned to the side, peeking around the corner, and watched as the men would stand up, sticking their rifles through perfectly engineered holes in the wall and fire on full auto. Seeming to have some sort of system in place where one would fire while the other crouched and reloaded. It reminded him of the old whack-a-mole game.

 _"Blue 1 Spartan actual how copy."_

 _"Spartan good copy."_

 _"Blue, I got visual confirmation on enemy position, at the wall to the west of the village, over."_

 _"Spartan, Blue 1, I'm bingo fuel, en route back to base. Contact Blue 2, over."_

Jack shook his head and silently cursed before keying his radio. _"Blue 2, Spartan, visual confirmation on the enemy, I need a gun run on the wall to the west of the village, how copy over."_

 _"Spartan, Blue 2, good copy, I've got enough fuel for two runs, give me approach and location of friendlies, over."_

 _"Blue 2, approach from the north, as soon as the trees clear, you'll see the wall. Friendly is danger close unable to mark position, you're cleared hot, let it rain."_

 _"Blue 2, copies, cleared hot, friendlies danger close. Keep your head down Spartan, thirty seconds."_

Jack watched as the small dot morphed into the deadly aircraft as it approached, almost invisible with the grey paint scheme blending into the sky. It was almost mesmerizing, He had the sudden urge to yell at the enemy and let them know they'd picked a fight with the wrong group of soldiers, but it was quickly forgotten as the _brrrrrrrp_ of the Gatling gun on the nose of the deadly aircraft rained hell down on the enemy below.

Jack covered his head and tried to make himself as small as possible as chunks of wall, earth and organic matter flew in every direction.

The entire run lasted less than three seconds as the roar of the jet engines shook the ground.

Jack leaned over to peek around the wall but realized he didn't need to because the corner of the wall he was leaning against had been chewed away by the flying debris.

Jack couldn't make out anything in detail as the cloud of dust lingered in the air, the screams were proof enough Blue 2 had been on target.

Deciding not to stick around for the next devastating run, Jack pushed himself up and started jogging back towards the building he'd left Box and Coop in, planning on backtracking to the irrigation ditch.

As he neared the shack with the tin roof, Jack watched as the A10 flew overhead, catching sight of the false canopy painted on the underside of the jet, he threw a salute to the pilot, not knowing if the man could see him but thought it was appropriate considering he and his buddy had save their asses.

As he continued toward the building, he heard the second gun run commence and end in a matter of seconds. Jack keyed his mike. _"Mac, Spartan, how copy?"_

 _"Spartan, I can hear you."_

Jack smirked, Mac had often complained about the way military communications always sounded like backwards broken English, much to his frustration, it was an argument he always lost with the group of Delta operators.

 _"Mac, the A10's outa here, bad guys are gone for now, you should be able to get movin."_

 _"I've been moving since the first run, so far so good."_ Jack could hear the strain in the young man's voice and wanted nothing more than to be there when he finally got out of the field.

As he moved through the maze of alley's, following the trail of destruction they'd left coming in, he could feel the tightness in his chest getting worse. The ability to breathe properly was becoming a luxury and running definitely wasn't helping.

Slowing to a fast walk, Jack tried to blink away the blurriness in his vision. He concentrated on taking short measured breaths. Understanding the blurred vision was the result of a lack of oxygen, or too much Co2, he couldn't remember which.

As he approached the next corner, something made him stop. He didn't know what, but the feeling he was being watched had suddenly made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Crouching and turning in a single move, Jack aimed his rifle, inspecting the area behind and above him in the narrow space.

Finding nothing, he slowly approached the corner, quickly peeking around the edge, he stood up and walked around the corner. "What the hell Box! You're supposed to be getting Coop outa here!"

Box shrugged, "I did, left him with the Rangers, they promised to take really good care of him, besides, somebody had to come back and make sure you didn't get lost." Box cocked his head to the side, taking in Jack's appearance with a practiced eye.

Jack shook his head and started to walk past his second in command. "Well, I'm ready when you are, let's get the hell outa here before more of those fuckers start comin outa the ground."

Box easily caught up to Jack, and started to walk backwards in front of him, scrutinizing his fellow Texan.

Jack tried to sidestep around Box, keeping his head down, just concentrating on moving and doing his best to ignore the man.

"You having any trouble breathin there hoss?" Box asked bending low trying to look Jack in the eye.

Jack swallowed and shook his head, suddenly very tired. "Yeah a little, now would you get outa my way and pay attention to where we're going before we either get shot or blown the fuck up?"

Box turned and walked in front of Jack, throwing an occasional look over his shoulder at his friend as they made their way towards the irrigation ditch.

As the stepped through the hole in the wall and slowly slid into the water, Box turned toward Jack. "Marconi says he sent EOD in after Mac, so far, that LT, what's his name and his bunch are the only casualties. We're damn lucky we didn't lose more guys today."

Jack reached down, scooping up a handful of water and rubbed it down his face. He looked at Box, with a one eyed squint and blew the water from his lips. "Box, shut the fuck up, we ain't out of this yet dude."

To be continued...

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this, apologies for all the radio chatter, but it was necessary, I hope it wasn't boring. I promise to get Mac out of that field eventually. ;-)

I'd like to send a shout out again to Slipped Halo8186 who in this particular chapter saved me from accidentally blowing all the guys up. *wink*. Also, to MarenMarry who has completely immersed herself into the characters and made exploring this world so much more fun.

Just got the call, sending engines to Nevada, I will post another chapter, but it might be a few days. Until then, be safe.

-Gib-


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Hey there, so sorry for the time between updates, I do most of my writing at work in the evenings, and spend my days off taking advantage of the weather to get the summer projects done. I've never been one to sit inside when the sun's shining. Busy at work and home is a good thing actually, means I'm definitely not bored. Unfortunately, it also means writing is taking a back seat. Hopefully this chapter will tide you over for a bit. Not my usual shoot 'em up action, but I needed to get these guys some Advil and a band-aid or two... eventually. ;-)

Warnings: none really

Disclaimer: I don't own anything having to do with the show or writer's or... whatever.

Glossary: Nothing new in this one.

0-0-0

Mac couldn't remember the last time he'd been this tired, lungs burning with every breath, pulse pounding in his ears, he pictured his heart pumping, valves opening and closing with every beat, pumping blood from the atrium to the ventricles, lungs separating the oxygen molecules, over and over again with every breath.

 _Push with the legs, breathe. Pull with the arm, breathe, Push, breathe. Pull breathe, don't let go, keep going._

Inch by inch, he moved, toward the next Cairn. He'd stopped looking up to gauge the distance to the road, it only served to remind him of the painfully slow pace. Instead, he concentrated on the ground directly in front of him, setting goals for each move forward. "Just to that rock and we can take a break Opie." Mac said, not really expecting an answer.

Every time he'd reached a goal, he'd pick a new one without stopping. "Come on Opie, just to that stick, we can do this." He'd grunted out.

Mac was so focused on the next marker, he didn't realize how far he'd come until he saw the first cracker crumb.

It took his oxygen starved brain a second to process what he was looking at, and what he was hearing.

Mac's legs kept pushing automatically, almost involuntarily, still moving him and his package forward as the EOD team called out to him.

"Hey man, just stay there, we'll come to you, just sit tight." One of the techs yelled out.

The team of four had spread out and were clearing a wide swath into the field. Mac didn't stop, there was no way he was going to sit and wait, he had a clear path, marked by the cracker crumbs and he'd be damned if he wasn't going to finish the job and get Opie the help he needed.

Mac shook his head, "I'll come to you, I've got a clear path I marked earlier, be careful there's no pattern to the mines, I think some of them are sitting sideways so probe carefully."

One of the older EOD techs, a sergeant, cocked his head to the side. "What's your MOS son?"

The Sergeant had a bit of a twang to his speech _Mississippi most likely,_ Mac thought, not offended at being called son, which in the south, if Mac had learned anything hanging around Jack and Boxer, could have multiple meanings. In this case it was just a turn of a phrase.

Mac pulled Opie forward, "89D." He grunted.

"What'd you mark the trail with, I'll come give ya a hand."

Mac pulled, he could see the finish line, "Cracker crumbs, just wait at the edge, I can make it."

The Sargent, who's name placard read "Roberts," had positioned himself at the edge of the field in front of Mac and started to make his way toward the determined kid. It was just a fluke that the EOD team had been making their way into the field and had started clearing a path everywhere but where Mac was actually headed.

"I know you can, but you've done enough for one day, let us help ya son, looks like you could use a break." Roberts looked over his shoulder towards his team. "And another medic." Prompting one his men to run up to the road and find another medic.

Mac pulled one last time, as Roberts reached out to grab Opie's shoulder strap on his vest. "You can let go now son, I got him."

"Call me Mac, and I don't think I can." Mac said trying but unable to open his hand. "My hand cramped a while ago, I suppose that was a good thing." The corner of his mouth turned up.

Robert's gently pried Mac's fingers open, amazed at what Mac had done. "We've been watching you, woulda come got ya sooner but that LT, think his name's Marconi, wouldn't let us."

Once his hand was free, Mac pulled his arm up to his side, grateful to be able to bend his arm for the first time in what seemed like days. "It's alright, we made it."

"Yo! Mac!" Mac heard Coop's voice and looked up, watching as the big man shrugged off two Rangers and hobbled down the incline.

Mac tried to get to his hands and knees, only to fall flat with a grunt.

Before he knew it, Coop and another Ranger were helping him up. "Come on baby brother, let's get you outa here."

Mac turned to make sure Opie was being taken care of only to find the PFC and Sergeant Roberts already gone. _"When did that happen?"_ He thought, looking up at Coop. "Where's Opie?"

Coop's eyebrows knitted as he hauled Mac to his feet. "Probably back in Mayberry with Andy and Aunt Bea dude, why?"

Mac shook his head confused. "What?"

Coop started moving Mac up the short incline deciding it wouldn't do Mac any good if he took the kid down with him if his leg gave out.

"Never mind." Coop said distractedly, waving a hand summoning the Medic that had just arrived. "He's all yours take good care of him, we're kind of attached."

The medic eyed Coop, noting the limp and the caked blood in the big man's hair, "Name's Tayvern, you're coming too, Ranger's up top said you got shot in the head?"

At that, Mac's head shot up, "You what!" Suddenly his injuries and the tiredness he felt fell away, as he hobbled sideways up the incline to stand eye level in front of the tall man.

Coop waved him off, gingerly touching the side of his head, squinting, "Wasn't nothin, gonna have to get a new helmet though."

The medic sighed, impatiently waving an arm toward the road. "If you guys wouldn't mind, we should get off the side of this hill before somebody picks us off."

Mac took a step and stumbled, his left leg starting to buckle, Coop's long arms caught his backside while the medic hauled him upright by the shoulder straps on his vest.

Mac hissed, his left hand dropping to his hip while his right covered his left shoulder.

"You alright Mac?" Coop asked worried.

"Yeah, they're just minor wounds, I'm just tired I guess." Mac released his shoulder and grabbed Tayvern's offered hand.

Once they'd reached the road, Mac looked around expecting to see Jack dolling out orders, moving soldiers like chess pieces as the medic steered him toward the side of a humvee.

Tayvern leaned down, eyeing Mac's name placard, "Why don't you have a seat right here while I get a look at what we're dealing with." He raised his eyes at Coop. "You too, let's see if we can't get that leg taken care of after I get a look at MacGyver here."

Mac slid down the side of the truck, left leg outstretched, left arm cradled in his lap. "It's just Mac," he said absentmindedly before turning to Coop. "Coop, where's Jack and Box?"

Coop shrugged, "Should be comin pretty soon, last thing I remember was Box tellin me he was going back for Jack when we got to the ditch."

Mac slowly removed his vest, ignoring the medic as he started to inspected the back of Mac's shoulder, probing the wound.

"Back where? How'd you guys get split up?" Mac asked, as Tavern pushed him forward and applied a bandage.

Coop shook his head, picking up small pebbles and tossing them onto the road. "I was kinda out of it for a bit there, last I saw Jack, he was headed out the door, next thing I know, Ellis and his boys showed up and we left."

Mac scrambled for his vest, hastily putting the ear piece in and keying his mic. " _Spartan, Mac, how copy?"_

When no answer came, he tried again with the same result. He shared a concerned look with Coop as the medic was running his trauma sheers up the side of Mac's pant leg.

Coop keyed his own radio. _"Spartan actual or Spartan two-five, sit rep!"_

The transmission was broken but it was enough for Mac to make out Box's voice. _"Sp…n t.. f…, ditch, re…st .as e..c!"_

Coop reached up to the back of the truck and pulled himself up, Mac rolled to his right, planting his right knee and used the side of the truck to push himself upright, much to the frustration of the medic. "Sit still, I need to bandage that wound on your leg."

Mac looked down at his left leg, the medic had split his pant leg from the ankle to his hip, the material waving in the breeze. He saw the diagonal line the bullet had made as it burned a furrow down the outside of his thigh, unconcerned with his wounds, he turned his attention to Coop as the big man tried to contact Box and Jack.

Tayvern, noticed the tension in his two patient's and continued with his ministrations, kneeling in front of Mac's leg, he wrapped a bandage around the wound. "You're lucky, looks like the bullet... I'm assuming that's what caused this… didn't penetrate the muscle. You're going to be sore for a while, it's more of a burn really, he finished tying off the bandage. That hip's a bit deeper, should heal up nicely though once you get it cleaned out, same with the shoulder, as long as whatever it was didn't go too deep and hit a nerve, how's your hand, any pain, tingling, numbness?"

Mac shook his head, barely paying attention to what the medic was saying, instead concentrating on the radio. Coop tried his transmission again and again, waiting for a response.

The medic pointed at Coop, "And you, why don't you sit back down."

Coop stepped away from the truck, he towered over most people while they were standing, Tavern was still kneeling on the ground which made Coop look more like a giant and the medic a dwarf.

Tayvern leaned back on his haunches having to put his hand on the ground to keep from falling over as he scrambled to his feet, still back pedaling. "Look, I get it, I take it you're missing some guys?"

"Yeah, so my fucking leg can wait!" He yelled angrily, bringing a hand up, pressing the palm of his hand against his right eye, grimacing.

Tavern put his hands up in a non threatening gesture, "Look I get it, and I'm sorry, but… Coop took a deep breath and dropped his hand. He stepped back, looking down the road, "Shut it kid, I'm trying to hear the damn radio." Coop thought he saw movement for a second but it was gone as fast as it had appeared.

Mac saw the change in focus on Coops face and followed his friend's line of sight. "You see something?"

Coop shook his head and scrubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. "Thought I saw something, but the heat's makin everything look weird."

Mac studied the road, trying to pick out any signs of movement. "It's called heat haze or heat shimmer, it causes an inferior…" He stopped mid sentence when his vision was filled with Coops large hand.

"Not the time dude." Coop started to hobble forward but suddenly stopped.

Mac had come along side the big man, and noticed the pained look on his face. "Coop you ok?"

Coop turned and smiled at Mac, "Mac, I think I'm gonna…" Mac's eyes widened and his hands shot out as all the color drained from the big man's face and his eyes rolled to the back of his head as he started to crumple.

As hard as Mac tried, there was no way he could hold the big man up and they both ended up in a heap on the ground, Mac's hip and shoulder flared, he tried to roll Coop over but before he could, Tayvern was at his side. "I got him, I got him." The medic said, calmly rolling the big man off of Mac's legs.

Mac scrambled to his hands and knees, leaning over Coop's slack face. "Come on Coop." Mac looked up at the medic, Tayvern was checking Coop's pupils, "pupils are equal and reactive, but a bit slow, pulse is a little fast." Tayvern looked up at Mac's concerned face. "You want to help, go grab about four guys, we're gonna need some help getting him in the helicopter. He's a big one ain't he." He said with a slight smile, trying to ease some of the tension.

Mac got to his feet and looked down the road one last time. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, "Jack?" Mac started to limp toward the mirage, "Hey! Go get some guys to help me carry your friend."

Mac jumped at the Medic's shout and looked down at Coop. The big man was starting to stir. When Mac looked back down the road, the image was gone. He shook his head, and started for the nearest group of soldiers he could find.

0-0-0

"Come on Wyatt, pick up your damn feet." Box's complaint held nothing but concern for his friend.

Jack's breathing had become worse as they'd sloshed through the canal, so much so that Boxer's concern had increased ten fold, concentrating less on the terrain and more on his friend.

Jack was usually able to power through aches and pains, but the ability to breathe was something no one, no matter how strong willed could overcome, no matter how hard they tried. At least that's what Box thought.

"You really did it this time Bubba, what's goin on, talk to me." Box asked slowing his pace to come along side his fellow Texan.

Jack looked up, noting the concern on Boxer's face, he knew he was in trouble but, given their current situation, there wasn't anything either one of them could do right at the moment.

The corner of his mouth turned up, "Jesus Box, you're worse than my mom dude." He said between strained breaths.

Box scoffed, not in the mood for Jack's poor attempt at humor. "I ain't screwing around Jack, I need to know if you're gonna make it back to the road or if I need to call CAS evac for your crazy ass."

Out of sheer stubbornness, Jack increased his pace, "Good luck with that Box, if you hadn't decided to take a swim, we could both get a lift outa here, my radio's fried, I imagine yours ain't no better."

Box caught up to Jack, passing him walking sideways while giving the banks of the canal a cursory glance before looking at his friend. "Hey, what the hell was I supposed to do, I thought you were gonna pass out and drown or something. I had no idea there was a damn hole there, it was three feet under water." He turned his back to Jack, taking the lead, "Besides, you took a nice swim your own self."

"Only because I was trying to save _your_ ass Marion!" Jack knew Box hated his given middle name, but their conversation, even if it was bordering on arguing was keeping his mind off of how much he hurt.

Box spun, pointing his finger, eyes narrowed, "Jack Wyatt Dalton, I'm only gonna tell you this one more time. I swear on a stack of bibles, you ever call me that again, and I will tell your mom, your sister _and_ your brother everything, and I mean, _everything_." Box's eyebrows shot up, lips pursed. "You get me?"

Jack let out a short breathless laugh, "You go right ahead Amigo, you forget, _you_ were with me for just about _everything_ I ever did." Jack smiled thoughtfully, "I'd almost enjoy watching you explain to my brother what really happened to his motorcycle." Jack couldn't hold back a cough, sending a sharp pain through his chest.

Box turned at the sound, concerned, Jack waved him off with a forced grin, "Or better yet, what happened to Bevo. I'm sure the University of Texas would be real interested in what happened to their mascot dude."

Box shook his head, eyeing Jack suspiciously, "You wouldn't?"

Jack held his hand up, his thumb, index and pinkey fingers extended showing the Longhorns symbol and smiled mischievously, "Hook 'em Horns brother."

Box snorted, Jack's antics had eased some of the tension and concern as they neared the road. "You know, one of these days you're gonna have to rein in that mean streak of yours bubba." Boxer climbed out of the ditch and held his hand out for Jack.

Jack reached up and took the offered hand, grunting as he scrambled up the bank. "I ain't mean Box, now my sister, she…" Jack's breath hitched, as he fell to his knees, cradling his side. "Son of a bitch." He groaned, Box instantly knelt at his side, "Talk to me man."

Jack couldn't put Boxer off any longer, he knew something was wrong and it was getting worse. "Think I got something wrong in my chest, gettin hard to breathe, and my head feels like it's gonna fall off." He ground out, starting to stand.

Box reached down with his good hand grabbing Jack under the arm, helping him up. "I already knew that genius, I'm just trying to figure out if you can make it back, or if I'm gonna have to carry you."

Jack reached up and put an arm around Box's shoulder, giving it a squeeze, not recognizing the pained look on the stocky operator's face. "Box, the day you gotta carry me is the day you're planting me in the ground."

Box's face paled, "Don't say shit like that man, it ain't funny."

Jack started to move forward, partially supported by Box, "It wasn't meant to be." He said finally noticing the grimace on his friend's face. "How's the arm?" He asked moving his arm, changing the subject.

Box would normally ignore the inquiry but he was glad for the change change of topic. "Hurts some, think my shoulder's broke at least."

Jack was about to comment when Box held his hand up to his ear. "Hang on, I got something in com's."

Jack waited patiently, as Box answered, _"Spartan two-five, we're on the road, request cas evac."_

When there was no response, Box shook his head. "Looks like we're hoofin it for a while, I don't hear anything but static now."

Jack shrugged, "It's less than a mile dude, how hard can it be?"

0-0-0

Mac followed the small entourage that was helping Coop toward the landing zone where the medivac helicopter was supposed to come in.

Tayvern had said the helicopter he'd come in on had left, something about needing to go north for something. Mac hadn't really been paying attention, he was still thinking about what he thought he saw, and the sooner he delivered Coop, the sooner he could go investigate.

"Hey Mac, did you hear what I said?" Coop asked, bring Mac back to the present.

"What?" Mac cocked his head to the side, noticing for the first time how odd their little group looked. The first soldiers he'd grabbed to help Coop were shorter than even he was. Now that the big man was on his feet, it looked like he had two human crutches under his arms.

Coop looked over his shoulder as he put more pressure on the two soldiers supporting him. "I said we should grab one of these trucks and go look for Box and the boss."

"Believe me Coop, I thought about it, but given the reason we came here in the first place, even I don't think that's a good idea to drive on the road." Mac turned to look back down the road, since they'd put a fair amount of distance between where Coop had passed out and the spot Mac thought he'd seen something, the effects of the heat haze had changed. "Coop." Mac pointed down the road, causing the big man to turn, eliciting a groan from the soldiers helping him.

"Son of a bitch!" Coop beamed, shoving the two soldiers aside. "I knew they'd make it!" He yelled excitedly, starting to hobble forward.

"Where do you think you're going?" Tavern stopped him.

Mac had already started down the road, pant leg flapping in the wind.

Coop looked down at the Medic, "Those are my buddies comin, I'm going to meet 'em."

Tayvern was no rookie, he'd been around spec op's guys before and understood they had a different mindset but, he was genuinely concerned for the big man. "Look, I know you want to go running down there, but we just got you back on your feet, and quite frankly…" He pointed to the two soldiers that had been helping, "I don't think these guys really want to have to drag your Paul Bunyan ass all the way back here after you pass out again."

Coop snorted, "Paul Bunyan? Seriously dude, that's the best you could come up with?"

Tayvern shrugged, "It was the PG version. Now, you going to stay or do I have to knock you out?" The Medic held up a syringe for effect."

Coop put his hands up, "Alright dude, you win. Jeesh, you medics, always with the drugs."

Tayvern smiled mischievously, hoping the big man didn't realize that particular syringe was filled with nothing but saline, "You got that right, now you stay here while I go collect your other half." He said sternly, walking away, intent on catching up to Mac. "It's like herding damn cats with these guys." He mumbled, putting the syringe in his front pocket for easy access and possible future use.

0-0-0

Mac's excitement at seeing his friends coming down the side of the road quickly turned to concern as he realized they were moving very slowly and looked to be supporting each other.

Mac quickened his pace, ignoring the pain in his leg and the shouts from Tayvern to stop.

As he got closer, he realized his concern was justified, Box had Jack's left arm draped over his shoulder, his left hand secured in a white knuckle grip around Jack's wrist.

Jack's legs were moving bonelessly as he tried, and failed to support most of his own weight.

Boxer's face was a mask of pain as his right arm hung loosely, sandwiched between his side and Jack.

"Box! Jack!" Mac called out as he ran toward his friend's, surprised when he was passed by Tayvern sprinting by.

"Stop running, I got 'em." The Medic yelled as he passed.

Box looked up at the shout of his name, "Look here Wyatt, the cavalry's comin." He said looking down at the semi conscious operator.

Jack's head raised as his legs completely gave out, his weight bringing both men to the ground.

Box let go of Jack's wrist and rolled his friend to his back. "Come on man, we're almost there."

Tayvern dropped to his knees beside the downed operator, "What happened?" He asked quickly noting the dried blood caking the left side of Jack's waist and hip, quickly starting to undo the man's vest, looking for the source.

Mac made it to the trio, bent over placing his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath, taking in the scene. "Box?"

Box reached over with his left, supporting his right arm, "He got shot, grazed his ribs, took a couple to the vest, been complaining of shortness of breath and tightness for the last forty minutes."

Tayvern cut Jack's shirt away, exposing his chest. "Get on the horn, get CAS evac comin." He said noting the bruises and the remnants of the bandage on the man's side.

"I'd love to doc, but our radio's are fried." Box grabbed Jack's wrist, "Pulse is about 120, I'm thinkin hemo maybe?"

Tayvern looked up scrutinizing the stocky man. "Possible, when did this happen?" He asked spreading his kit on the ground.

"I don't know, three four hours maybe." Box looked up at Mac, noting the bandaged leg and shoulder. "You alright kid?"

Mac's concerned gaze shifted to Box, "Yeah, I'll be fine. I'm gonna go get some guys to come help." He said as he stood up to leave.

Box pointed back toward the convoy, "Don't bother, looks like somebody's comin."

Tayvern looked up briefly before dousing Jack's side with iodine. "That's good, the sooner we get him on a bird, the better, I get this chest tube in, he should start moving more air, anything else I should know about?" He asked as he inserted the chest tube, satisfied with the result.

Box and Mac watched as the cloud of dust below the road got closer. "He got his bell rung a couple a times, was out for maybe thirty seconds once, lost his hearing for a bit too." Box answered absentmindedly, watching the vehicle approach at breakneck speed.

Tayvern held up an I.V. Bag, "Spike that for me." he said, knowing spec op's guys were trained in field medicine.

Box grabbed the bag and tubing, holding it out to Mac. "Mac, take care of this will ya, my arms busted."

"What the…" Jack ground out, arms and legs starting to move.

Tayvern put a hand on the operator's shoulder, "Easy there buddy, you're ok, just sit still."

Mac handed the I.V. to the Medic, "His name's Jack."

Tayvern smiled a friendly smile, understanding the man's friend's wanted him to know the man he was treating. He tossed a few bandages and wraps toward Mac, "Mac, do me a favor and take care of your friend there, while I get Jack squared away.

"Names Boxer, but you can call me Box, doc."

Tayvern nodded, picking up Jack's hand, scrubbing the dirt and grime off. "Jack, I'm gonna start an I.V., get some fluids in you."

Jack pulled his hand away, becoming more alert. "I'm good, it's ok."

Box smiled, "Well I'l, be damned, shoulda known who was driving."

Boxer's comment caused Mac to stop applying the triangular bandage and turn to see Coop's big frame hunched over the steering wheel as the vehicle came to a skidding stop.

Box shook his head, "Surprised he didn't wreck the damn thing. Hey Doc, you might want to check on that big fella coming this way, think he's got a pretty good concussion and a busted ankle."

Tayvern nodded, fighting Jack for his hand. "Already checked him, he's not supposed to be here." Jack managed to pull his hand out of the Medic's grasp and tried to roll to his right, away from the pain in his side. "I'm alright, just gotta catch my breath." He said, still not entirely in charge of his faculties.

Mac finished tying off the sling and swath, securing Boxer's shoulder. "That should hold till we get to the field hospital."

Tayvern reached over the top of Jack, pushing him back and grabbed his arm, prepping the I.V. site once again. "Jack you're gonna have to hold still."

Coop limped up the incline to the road as the two short soldiers trailed behind. "Hey Box, glad you could make it, how's the boss?" The big man looked down concerned at the amount of blood coming from the tube.

Tayvern looked up and glared at Coop. "He'll be fine if he would just settle down."

Jack was starting to become more alert, he craned his neck to look at Coop, "I'm fine, don't need a damn I.V."

"Says the guy with a tube sticking out of his chest." Mac snorted, happy to have his friends back together... Even if they _were_ a bit broken.

Box shot a glare at Mac, "You just had to say it." Mac held his hands out, realizing his mistake, "sorry, I just… never mind."

Jack's eyes got wide as he tried to get a look at his side, starting to squirm even more. "Chest tube?"

Coop stood over the top of the trio, casting a shadow over the downed team leader. "Give it up doc, just knock his ass out so we can get outa here."

Jack pointed backwards at Coop, "Coop, you just shut your…"

Tayvern rocked back, sitting on his boot heels, a smile crossed his face proudly as he checked the sedated man's pupils. "Thanks for the tip."

Mac, Box and Coop, shared a surprised look. "You really did it? Holy shit is he gonna be pissed when he wakes up." Coop laughed.

Tayvern stood, held up the small syringe in front of Coop's face. "Yes I did, and if you don't start doing what I tell you, I've got plenty more where this came from." He pointed the syringe toward Mac and Box, "That goes for you two as well."

Mac helped Box to his feet as the Delta operators and EOD tech backed away from the Medic a bit timidly. Coop leaned sideways toward Mac as they watched Tayvern direct the two soldiers on how to get Jack to the truck. "Dudes are worse than the enemy sometimes, always with the drugs man."

Box leaned forward to look at Coop. "Hey, I for one could use a little of that happy juice, so what say we get the hell outa here and get to that chopper… we got friends to check on."

To be continued…

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this, and yeah, I may have gone a bit overboard with the whump, that and I bent the trauma treatment protocols all to hell, but I couldn't help it. It's fiction right.

I probably have one more chapter before I wrap this one up, should be a day or two.

By the way, I am totally enjoying all the new stories that have been popping up, MacGyver fans are the best!

-Gib-


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Well here it is, the last chapter. With no more guns, explosions and aircraft to direct, this is the stopping point. Not my usual shoot 'em up stuff and definitely shorter than I usually write, so I hope it works. Thanks again for all the reviews, favorites and follows. Dlwells51 who should be fast asleep right now hasn't seen any of this. So, once again, I'm flying solo on the punctuation. ;-)

Warnings: None

Disclaimer: I don't own anything having to do with the show. Does this stuff really work or am I just wasting space?

0-0-0

Mac could hear Coop's voice coming from down the hall, whatever they were discussing was apparently funny because the next thing he heard was Box's laugh that sounded more like a mule baying than any sound that should come out of a human being.

The two men's antics seemed to have an affect on the staff in the field hospital, people were smiling and snickering as Mac walked by. He realized he was smiling too.

When he entered the room, whatever they'd been talking about was quickly forgotten. Box wiped the moisture from his eyes as he continued to giggle between breaths, trying to compose himself.

Coop hopped turning to face Mac, planting his crutches well in front of where they should be placed safely, in Mac's opinion, and pushed off with his good leg. The big man swung his body forward as if he were pole vaulting a fjord, sticking the landing on one foot directly in front of Mac. "Hey little brother, glad you could make it!"

Mac smiled looking up at Coop's beaming face. Once all the dirt and grime had been cleaned off, it made him look younger, it made them all look younger, and less dangerous Mac thought.

Mac pat Coop on the chest as he walked around him towards the bed, he nodded at Box then focused on the person he'd actually come to see. "Hey Dunc, how you feeling?"

Duncan winked at Mac and reached for the cup on the tray positioned over his lap. "I'd be doin a hell of a lot better if these two jokers would stop buggin me." He said, sending an accusing albeit friendly glare at the two operators as he maneuvered the straw to the left side of his mouth and took a sip.

Mac turned eyeing both men, who suddenly found the floor very interesting. "What have they been doing, because I'll be sure to tell the head nurse to take extra special care of them when they have their next exam. He leaned in to whisper in Dunc's ear, loud enough for the other two men to overhear. I think she likes me."

Duncan started to smile but held his hand up to his bandaged face. "Dammit Mac, don't make me laugh, it's bad enough these two have been trying since they came in, but you, I thought you were the compassionate one of the bunch."

Mac's eyes softened, he placed a hand on Dunc's shoulder, "I'm sorry Dunc, seriously though, how are you?"

"He's going to be right as rain here in a week or two." Box tapped Dunc's foot. "Ain't ya?"

Duncan nodded, "Yeah, should be, as soon as I can start eatin solid food again. Gonna have a helluva scar they tell me."

Coop adjusted his stance leaning heavily on the crutches, making him seem almost normal height. "Hell dude, chick's dig scars."

"How the hell would you know Coop, you're still a virgin ain't ya?" Jack said from the door as he slowly made his way into the room.

Coop shuffled sideways, giving his boss room at the side of the bed. "I ain't no virgin dude." He said defensively. "And there are always exception to the rules, take Box, he's got scars a plenty and still can't rope him a filly."

"Leave me outa this Lurch, and I told you, your Texan sucks man." Box sidestepped toward Jack, watching his every move. "You supposed to be up and about there Bubba?"

Jack sighed with the slightest hitch in his breath. "Yeah, as a matter of fact, I am. The white coats want me walkin every hour or so, and breathin in some damn contraption that's supposed to make my lungs work better."

"It's called a spirometer, and actually it's use to…" Mac stopped as soon at Jack lightly tapped him on the back of the head.

"Nobody cares what it's called." Jack's eyes creased at the corners as Mac's mouth snapped shut.

Coop tapped Jack on the leg with one of his crutches, "Any word on Pete?"

Everyone's attention was on the team leader at that point, the room suddenly becoming quiet.

Jack's chin dropped to his chest as his lips pursed. When he looked up, he was greeted by the concerned looks from his team members. Duncan pushed himself up further on the bed.

"He lost his left leg, below the knee, got him in Germany right now, they're going to ship him back stateside in a few days. At least he should be home by the time the twins are born, has a long road ahead of him but if I know Pete, he ain't gonna let something like this hold him back.

Duncan's eyes were downcast, hand's picking at the edge of the sheet. "I didn't see a thing, nothing out of the ordinary, no signs at all. Next thing I know I'm smellin smoke and Pete's yellin at me that we need to get out. That's all I remember until we were on the chopper." He looked up, eyes pleading for something, anything to make the hurt go away. "I didn't see a damn thing Boss."

"Dunc, you pulled Pete out man, put a tourniquet on his leg and got him away from the truck. You don't remember any of that?"

Duncan shook his head. "I don't, like I said, it was all a jumbled mess."

Box laid a hand on Dunc's thigh. "Hey, you got him out, he's alive because of you, and leg or no leg, he's gonna go home to his wife… And his kids ain't gonna grow up without a dad."

Dunc gingerly wiped at his eyes. "Thanks Box, I know, it's just…" He looked around the room at his teammates, look at you guys, you look like some freaking advertisement for accident insurance or something.

Coop snorted, "None of this is your fault man, I blame Kirkland and his bunch for most of this, if it weren't for Mac, none of those boys woulda made it." Coop leaned forward to look at Mac, "Speaking of which, you ever find out what happened to that kid you drug outa that field?"

Mac shook his head, "No, I don't even know if he made it. I didn't even get his real name, just called him Opie. And by the time all of us were on the helicopter, he'd already been flown out."

Jack picked up on the somberness in Mac, the kid had practically gotten himself killed saving this Opie character, the least he could do was try to find out what happened to the guy. "I'll look into it for you Mac."

Mac sent a grateful smile towards Jack.

Feeling the definite change of the mood in the room, Coop cleared his throat, "Hey Dunc, I'm gonna get Mac to put some of his badass art work on this bad boy." Coop bent his knee up, planting the calf high cast on the edge of Duncan's bed."

Duncan started to smile and grabbed the side of his face. "Dammit Coop, don't make me laugh."

Coop smiled rocking backward proudly, losing his balance and dropping one of his crutches. Jack reached out to stop the big man from falling backward and hissed, clutching his side, Mac reached out for Jack, the quick movement aggravating his shoulder, causing him to clench his teeth and grimace.

Coop hopped on his good leg, squeezing his eyes shut, his head feeling like it was going to fall off, as Box moved quickly to steady his friend, turning his side to the big man and offering his cast laden shoulder and arm as support.

Duncan sat back and watched the entire scene before him, eyebrows raised as Coop was finally steady on his foot. "Sorry, dammit, sorry about that."

Jack took a steadying breath, "Damn that hurt. Mac, you ok?"

Mac shook his head, "Yeah, I'm fine, Coop you alright?"

Coop smiled sheepishly, "Yeah, head's poundin again, but I'm alright."

"I'm fine too." Box added when no one asked.

Mac bent over and picked up Coop's crutch, surprised to find it was as tall as his shoulder. "Did they have to special order these things for you?"

Coop let out a puff of air, "No, took 'em a while to find these things though." Coop now steady on his crutches hobbled back to the bedside.

"You alright Boss? Didn't knock anything loose did ya?"

Jack still had his hand cradling his side, "No, Coop, I'm ok. I swear, if I find that medic, I'm gonna stick a damn tube in his side and see how he likes it. Fucker hurt worse than getting shot."

Box pointed at him, "That medic probably saved your life Jack. You ought to at least thank him before you stick him."

Jack waved noncommittally, "Yeah well, it still freakin hurt." He turned his attention to Duncan who was still holding the side of his face. "You ok Dunc?"

"I'm fine," he mumbled, removing his hand. "I just thought of the perfect thing for Coop's cast."

Everyone's attention shifted to the dark skinned man.

"Well?" Coop asked expectantly. "What? I love sharks man, or maybe a badass dragon, or like Thor with that big ass hammer or something." His excitement evident as he started waving his hands around, clamping down on the crutches with his armpits. "Or maybe like Batman or something you know, cape all spread out looking all badass and menacing, swooping down on the bad guys."

Duncan shook his head, "No man, after what I just witnessed, I was thinking something more along the lines of the Three Stooges."

Mac laughed, "I could probably pull that one off, if I had a picture to go off of."

Jack snorted at Coop's less than enthusiastic look, all of his testosterone driven ideas dashed. "I'll find you one Mac, but I swear, if you so much as make any of them in our likeness, I'll be sure to have a chat with the mess sergeant. How do you feel about peeling potatoes?"

"They use powdered potatoes Jack." Mac answered smugly.

Box rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Kid has no idea does he Wyatt."

Jack chewed on the side of his lip contemplating the defiant, too smart for his own good, kid standing in front of him, then smiled a feral smile. "No problem kid, ever since the dawn of time, the Army has _always_ needed someone to clean the latrines."

The end.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this, and yeah I know, it's not my usual stuff but honestly, I really didn't know which direction to take this. After starting and trashing something like five different versions, this is the one I settled on. I don't know if I'm entirely happy with this so I do plan on writing a epilogue of sorts. Mac and Jack have to have a talk. If you want more of these guys, check out MarenMary93's story _Michelle_. She has put a ton of work into my OC's fleshing them out and it's been a blast reading her stuff.

-Gib-


	10. Epilogue

A/N: This is officially the end. Longer A/N's at the end of the chapter, enjoy. -Gib-

 ** _Epilogue_**

Mac walked quietly down the hallway, nodding to the staff that made up the night shift. As he neared Jack's room, he could see the soft glow coming from the open door, pausing momentarily when he saw an unfamiliar man walk out of Jack's room.

The man wasn't wearing the usual Army cammo, instead dressed in plain faded green BDU's, a plain brown t-shirt and expensive but well worn hiking boots. By his build, and the way he carried himself, he knew the man was no doctor. If Mac had to guess, the man was either a private contractor or CIA. As they passed, the man made eye contact with a brief head nod.

Mac kept moving towards Jack's room, sparing a backward glance at the man before coming to Jack's door.

As he walked into the room, it took his eyes a moment to adjust to the dim light, the first thing he noticed was the the empty bed, sheets cast off to the side, and an untouched tray of what constituted as dinner lying on the bed.

"Hey, what brings you by this time of night.?" Jack's soft voice came from the corner of room, startling Mac.

His eyes finally adjusting, he found the source of the voice, Jack was seated in one of the few cushioned chairs that the field hospital had, a stack of papers and forms splayed out in front of him, the hospital tray adjusted as low as it would go.

"I was just uh, down the hall, wanted to check in on Duncan, see if he needed anything." Mac thumbed over his shoulder, "Who was that?"

"Agency." Jack answered picking up a stack of forms, tapping them against the tray to straighten out the pile.

"Well, what did he want?" Mac stepped around the corner of the bed, propping himself on the edge.

Jack leaned back in the chair with a sigh, Mac could see the stark white bandage on his side and the top of his shoulder, the low light casting shadows, making the bruises on Jack's chest blend in.

"Want's to borrow me for a while, that's all I can say."

Mac sat up straighter, "What do you mean borrow?" He pointed at Jack's chest. "You just got shot and your ribs are still broken if you remember."

Jack placed a hand over his ribs, "Oh I'm well aware, believe me. And no, I'm not heading out right this moment, if that's what you're worried about."

Mac rubbed the back of his neck, he could feel the tension building, letting his hand drop to his thigh, he fixed Jack with a concerned look. "The fact that you're heading out at all, is what I'm worried about."

Jack huffed, "Well, when the Army says go, I go."

Now Mac was confused, "I thought you said he was with the Agency, what's the Army have to do with it?"

Jack leaned forward, pushing the rolling tray off to the side as he used the armrest to slowly lever himself up. "It's called being sheep dipped." He said with a slight groan, "Essentially, my service record will be wiped, I'll cease to exist as far as the Army is concerned, and I'll be working under a whole new identity… For a while anyway, at least until the op is complete, then we'll see what happens."

Mac's brow furrowed, "I don't understand, are you saying you're leaving?"

Jack walked to the door, and closed it. "Watch your eyes," he said as he flipped the switch turning on the overhead lights.

Even with the warning, the lights had a momentarily blinding effect. Jack ran a hand through his hair. "Basically, yeah. These guys have been after me for a while, but we were always just busy enough to keep 'em at a distance, that is up until now."

Mac slid off the edge of the bed, turning to face Jack. "But…"

Jack checked his watch, and started to walk the length of the room, reaching the wall, he turned and walked to the other side. "Gotta get my walkin in." He said as Mac stood at the end of the bed, obviously trying to make sense of what he was hearing.

"But you have a job… here, with us." he finally blurted out.

Jack stopped, giving Mac a sideways look before continuing. "Doing what Mac? Pete's back in the states, Dunc has a pretty long road ahead of him despite what he says, and Box and Coop are gonna be in plaster for a month or two." Jack sighed, not able to make eye contact with the young man.

"But I'm here, we could…" Mac let his words fade, not really able to come up with a logical scenario.

"Could what Mac? Be a sniper team? Find the bad guys and put one between the eyes, no physical contact needed man, just sit back and pull the trigger..." Jack shook his head. "That's my my skill set... not yours."

Jack slowly walked to the stack of papers on the tray, Mac noticed the slower than normal gate and the slump in the older man's shoulders as he shuffled through the stack of papers, finally finding what he was looking for.

Mac looked at the form, already knowing what it was but unwilling to accept what he knew was coming.

Jack sighed, silently reading the form, jaw clenching. After what seemed like minutes, he stood up straight, squaring his shoulders and finally made eye contact with Mac's shifting gaze. "You're going back to your EOD unit, Major dropped the paperwork off this evening." Jack handed Mac the orders.

"I'm sorry kid, but this whole EOD tagging along with Delta was bound to come to an end, I just didn't think it'd happen this way you know." Jack started walking, around the room, letting Mac process the new information.

Mac looked up trying to hold back the tears that were forming. "And how did you expect it to end Jack? I mean, we got the jobs done right?"

Jack let a small humorless laugh escape his lips. "To be honest kid, I figured I'd get killed trying to keep you from getting yourself killed."

Jack's tactic had somewhat of the desired effect, but not quite what Jack was looking for, as Mac straightened, a flash of anger in his eyes. "I would never put you or your team in jeopardy Jack, you know that."

Jack was a master strategist in all things military, but when it came to one Angus MacGyver, he could never quite come up with exactly the right tactic. The last thing he wanted was for the kid to blame himself for anything having to do with the current situation. "I know that Mac, I do, honestly." Trying to lighten the mood, he smiled. "But you have to admit, you've pulled some pretty crazy shit while you've been here."

Mac didn't want to be angry at Jack, deep down he knew Jack wasn't in a position to make all of this just go away and from his body language, Jack was just as unhappy about the situation as he was. "Yeah, well, what'd you expect, I had you as an example." He tried to make it sound like a joke but the tenseness in Jack's posture said he'd failed to lighten the operator's mood.

Jack continued to pace, injuries seemingly forgotten, "About that, Mac, I owe you an apology, I should have never dragged you into all this." Jack waved a hand around the room, as if the small space could sum up everything they'd been through.

Mac let all the anger he was feeling fade away, "Jack, you didn't drag me into anything I didn't want. Yeah, maybe I wasn't exactly a willing participant the first time we met, but honestly, I would be lost right now if you hadn't brought me into your unit, you saved me from myself, I hope you realize that."

Jack stopped his pacing, turning to face Mac, his eyes softened. "Mac, I don't have the words kid but…" Jack placed his hand over his heart. "You've got a spot right here, always will."

The corner of Mac's mouth turned up, "Likewise Jack, you just take care of yourself doing whatever it is you're going to do, I won't be there to watch your back."

That got a genuine laugh from the operator, until he grimaced at the strain it put on his abused chest causing him to bend over slightly holding his side. "Dammit kid, you're gonna be the death of me." He said in jest.

After getting his pain under control, Jack straightened, his face becoming serious, as he moved to stand in front of the young man, placing a hand on his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. "You need to promise me something Mac, when you go back to your unit, if even for a second, you have to ask yourself if getting the job done is worth the risk, don't take it."

Mac smiled causing Jack to grab him by the back of the neck and tug him forward slightly, bending to look him straight in the eye. "I'm serious man, I'm not gonnna be there and as much as I love the Army, I don't trust anyone but me or my guys to watch your back, they just don't know how special you are."

Mac turned his head away embarrassed at the compliment, "Jack, I'm just another soldier, doing what I was trained to do, I'm no different than…"

Jack gently pushed against Mac's cheek making the young man look at him. "Don't ever sell yourself short Mac, you are special, and after all this Army business is over with, you're going to save the world someday."

Mac rolled his eyes, "Jack, that's not even possible, I mean do you have any idea what kind of odds it would take to have just one person…"

Jack held his hand up stopping Mac mid sentence, he stepped back holding his hands out to his side smiling. "Don't ask me how kid, but I know it, I just hope I'm around to see it happen. And have your back, cuz you know i'm kinda good in a crisis."

Mac laughed, "Yeah, you are Jack, that you are."

The official end.

A/N: Ok, now I'm done. I wasn't extremely happy with the last chapter, yes, it fit the characters, but it just didn't feel right. So, I hope you enjoyed this last bit. I'm happy with it and I think it rounded out the story and the series a bit better. Thanks again for reviewing. I have no immediate plans for another story. It's fire season and I'm switching mental gears, back to all business all the time if you get my meaning. Anybody wants to pick up where this left off or use any of it, by all means please do so.

-Gib-


End file.
